Go to What I SHOULD Have Said... main page
Here is one story retold,
albeit with a pithier ending:
From IHaveAnExamInOneHour:
One chance to use my high school learning...
What happened: I went to a store selling firearms and hunting gear with my parents when I was about 15, studying things like algebra, chemistry, and German at my local high school. I wandered away from the parents at one point to look at another section of the store. A sales attendant approached me and asked if anyone had accompanied me to the establishment.
What I said: Yeah, my parents are over there.
What I SHOULD have said: Ja, ich bin mit meinen Eltern hereingekommen!
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!
