Basic Trope: It seems that a person is accusing someone else of one thing when really it's another.
- Straight: Alice steals a priceless exhibit from a museum. Bob says, "I know what you did!", and Alice freezes up, but then Bob says, "How dare you eat the last slice of pie?!"
- Exaggerated: Alice murdered someone, but what Bob's angry about is her burping in public.
- Downplayed: Alice forgot to pay her rent, and also forgot to lock the door. Before Bob says what she forgot to do, Alice asks about the latter first, and turns out that was what he was getting to.
- Justified: Bob doesn't know Alice stole the exhibit, but he did know she ate the last slice of pie and he was very hungry.
- Inverted: When Carol brings back the exhibit Alice stole, Bob says "Well done!". Carol thinks he's congratulating her for bringing the exhibit back but really it's for bringing him some more pie.
- Subverted: "I know what you did! You ate the last slice of pie! And more importantly, you stole the exhibit from the museum!"
- Double Subverted: "I know what you did! How dare you eat the last slice of pie?! And more importantly, you stole the... chocolate bar I was saving".
- Parodied: Alice was still carrying the exhibit, yet Bob didn't notice.
- Zig-Zagged: "I know what you did! How dare you eat the last slice of pie?! And more importantly, you stole the... chocolate bar I was saving, and the exhibit from the museum!"
- Averted:
- Bob doesn't accuse Alice of anything.
- Bob outright says "I know you ate the last slice of pie!" or "I know you stole the exhibit!"
- Enforced: The creator thought it would be funny to trick the audience.
- Lampshaded: "Oh, I thought you were going to say I did something else."
- Invoked:
- Carol doesn't know what Alice did but sees her acting suspiciously so she tells Bob to do this to try and trick her into confessing.
- Bob and Alice are actually working together, making an innocuous accusation and getting a confession will make Alice look innocent.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "You know that thing where it seems they know their secret but really they don't?"
- Deconstructed:
- Alice gives herself away by doing a Suspiciously Specific Denial.
- Alice gives herself away by apologising specifically for stealing the exhibit.
- Reconstructed: Alice is smart enough to know not to do those things.
- Played for Laughs: Alice bursts into tears after the "I know what you did", which leaves Bob baffled.
Back to Bait-and-Switch Accusation
