Ever thought of the perfect comeback when it’s too late? There’s a name for it.
‘L’esprit de l’escalier’ - literally meaning 'staircase wit’ - is a French phrase sometimes used in English to describe the frustration of thinking of the perfect reply or rebuttal - but only when it’s too late.
The name for this irritating situation - which most of us have found ourselves in (usually in the workplace) - was coined by the French philosopher Denis Diderot, when he found himself in such a predicament during a dinner held by statesman Jacques Necker.
An insulting and highly critical remark was made to Diderot, which so surprised and shocked him, he was lost for words.
Describing the experience, he explained that a "sensitive man ... overwhelmed by the argument levelled against him, becomes confused and doesn’t come to himself again until at the bottom of the stairs."
L’esprit de l’escalier describes this phenomenon of only thinking of the right retort (or to use a more modern phrase, 'savage burn’) once you have left the room and are on your way down or at the bottom of the stairs.
Diderot’s phrase “the bottom of the stairs" wasn’t purely metaphorical - it probably refers to the actual structure of the building he found himself in on the night in question.
Such intellectual meetings, commonly referred to as salons, we’re often held on the top floors of hotels or mansions (the étage noble). So, to have reached the bottom of the stairs meant you had enough time to think of the right reply, but that you had geographically and officially left the party - and there was no going back to rebuke your slanderer.
So, if you ever leave a room irritated at someone’s snarky comment or downright rude behaviour, but only think of the perfect verbal counterstrike in the car ride home or when later posing in the bathroom mirror, consider yourself as suffering from an acute case of L’esprit de l’escalier.
Read more of my blogs on the lusciousness of language and general word nerdery here.
