Go to What I SHOULD Have Said... main page
Here is one story retold,
albeit with a pithier ending:
From Smarty:
Dinner at the Dumpster
What happened: I was walking down the street and from a distance I can see this guy (very raggy clothes, dirty looking) staring at me, and winking rasing his eye brows, ect. So when I'm about to walk by him he whistles at me and I roll my eyes and walk away....he yells "what not good enough for you?"
What I said: "Exactly!"
What I SHOULD have said: I would've said where would you take me to dinner, the dumpster?
or
what time would I pick you up in my car!
or
what would we go back to your card board box?
L'esprit d'escalier
The French call it l'esprit d'escalier, "the wit of the staircase," those biting ripostes that are thought of just seconds too late, on the way out of the room-or even, to tell the truth, days later. It's happened to you: you've suddenly thought of just what would put your foe in his or her place, but past the time when the arrow could sting its victim. You've stewed in your own juice ever since, and the chance for singeing repartee is gone forever.
Or is it?
Dorothy Parker or Oscar Wilde may have had the rapier wit to tweak their tormentors on the spot, but for the rest of us, we offer the Internet's only L'esprit d'escalier web site!
