Esprit d'escalier

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cancel2 2022

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Esprit d'escalier literally means staircase wit describing the feeling you have after the event when you think of a really witty putdown but it is too late to use it. Here is a good example of a retort to remember for the future so that you won't have to suffer from this affliction.


A lady came up to me on the street, pointed at my suede jacket and said, "Don't you know a cow was murdered for that jacket?" I said "I didn't know there were any witnesses. Now I'll have to kill you too".
 
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tom prendergast said:
Esprit d'escalier literally means staircase wit describing the feeling you have after the event when you think of a really witty putdown. Here is a good example to remember for the future.


A lady came up to me on the street, pointed at my suede jacket and said, "Don't you know a cow was murdered for that jacket?" I said "I didn't know there were any witnesses. Now I'll have to kill you too".
http://uk.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A03uv8...TF-8&rd=r1&fr=yfp-t-702&p=esprit+d%27escalier
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So if somebody dresses you down about something and say that they're just "givin' you a piece o' my mind", and you say, "Be sure and save yourself enough to get home on."...then you watch their forehead get all gnarled up because they can't decide whether to take a swing at you or not...is that esprit d'escalier?
 
asaratis said:
So if somebody dresses you down about something and say that they're just "givin' you a piece o' my mind", and you say, "Be sure and save yourself enough to get home on."...then you watch their forehead get all gnarled up because they can't decide whether to take a swing at you or not...is that esprit d'escalier?
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No.
 
tom prendergast said:
Well to qualify, it would have a good retort and you would only think of it after the event has occurred and it is too late to use it!
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Oh.....you mean like when my wife demanded to know who were the women I banged before she married me and I said "Including your sister?"

Or when I asked my wife for some money and she wanted to know what I was going to do with her money. I said "I'm going to a whore house" and she said' "Tell your mother I said Hi!"
 
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Mott the Hoople said:
Well I would think it would depend on the context but if "You Ugly!" don't count, I guess "You're Mom" wouldn't either.
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Maybe this will help.

L’esprit de l’escalier or esprit d'escalier (staircase wit) is thinking of a clever comeback when it is too late. The phrase can be used to describe a riposte to an insult or any witty remark that comes to mind too late to be useful—after one has left the scene of the encounter. The phenomenon is usually accompanied by a feeling of regret at not having thought of it when it was most needed or suitable.
The German word Treppenwitz and the Yiddish word trepverter are used to express the same idea.
 
tom prendergast said:
Maybe this will help.

L’esprit de l’escalier or esprit d'escalier (staircase wit) is thinking of a clever comeback when it is too late. The phrase can be used to describe a riposte to an insult or any witty remark that comes to mind too late to be useful—after one has left the scene of the encounter. The phenomenon is usually accompanied by a feeling of regret at not having thought of it when it was most needed or suitable.
The German word Treppenwitz and the Yiddish word trepverter are used to express the same idea.
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Yea....we have a phrase for that here in the US to. It's called "Oh Shit, Why Didn't I think of that!"
 
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