Idioms

staircase wit

staircase wit

A perfect witty remark, retort, or rejoinder that occurs to one after the fact or too late to be used. I was on the bus home long after being tongue-lashed by my boss when I thought of the perfect things to say that would take him down a few pegs. Ah, this staircase wit, it always comes to me when I can do nothing about it!

See also: wit

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

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References in periodicals archive

To ignore these base assumptions is to be a stranger to what Diderot called "l'espirit de l'escalier" or the "staircase wit".

When property buyers ignore the prevailing pessimism

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