I’m going to start a blog. It should be named Joshua’s Esprit d’Escalier, because I’m going to talk about stuff that people ask me about and I don’t know how to answer. This will be where I say the things I should have said, but just said something stupid. Now, after I thought about it, here is what I should have said.
For those who don’t know the expression Esprit d’Escalier (like KAY), it is translated into English as cab wit or stair wit. Stair wit because in the old days when kings and barons gave weeks long parties, people would go to their rooms after the ball, and while on the stairs come up with the thing they should have said. Of course nowadays, people come up with what they should have said in the cab on the way home. Actually when I heard this (I was in Paris some years ago) people were in the habit of taking a taxi home after a date. Now they are dating online, so Esprit d’Escalier probably is called undo wit or something similar.
Do you know a good modern translation for Esprit d’Escalier? If you do, please (!) let me know in the comments? Thanks.
See you soon. Be well.
J.