oops

Go to What I SHOULD Have Said... main page

Here is one story retold, albeit with a pithier ending:


From John:

Police come back.

What happened: So I had to pay off my parking tickets with the University I attend before I could register for classes. I thought I had paid them all off already, but figured I had received another one since that I had fogot about. Well, I get to the police department and the officer tells me that I have 6 tickets on my record that had be paid for before I could register. I looked at the dates of the tickets and they were the tickets I had already paid off earlier that year!!! I gave them hell about it and asked how I was able to register for classes last semester if I had all of these tickets from years ago. She gave some smart ass remark about how "the system isn't perfect ya know".

What I said: Ohh, Okay.

What I SHOULD have said: Obviously...

on the stairs

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!



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