L'esprit de l'escalier

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L’esprit de l’escalier or esprit d'escalier (staircase wit) is thinking of a clever comeback when it is too late. The phrase can be used to describe a riposte to an insult or any witty remark that comes to mind too late to be useful—after one has left the scene of the encounter. The phenomenon is usually accompanied by a feeling of regret at not having thought of it when it was most needed or suitable.

The German word Treppenwitz or the Yiddish word Trepverter are used to express the same idea.

Contents 1 Origin 2 Treppenwitz Trepverter 3 In popular culture 4 References

[edit] Origin

This name for the phenomenon comes from French encyclopedist Denis Diderot’s description of such a situation in his Paradoxe sur le comédien^[1]. During a dinner at the home of statesman Jacques Necker, a remark was made to him which left him speechless at the time because, he explains, l’homme sensible, comme moi, tout entier à ce qu’on lui objecte, perd la tête et ne se retrouve qu’au bas de l’escalier: a sensitive man like me, overwhelmed by the argument levelled against him, becomes confused and can only think clearly again [when he gets to] the bottom of the stairs. “The bottom of the stairs” refers to the architecture of the kind of hôtel particulier or mansion he was invited to. In such houses, the reception rooms were located on the étage noble, the noble storey, upstairs on the French first (North American second) floor, so that to have reached the bottom of the stairs means to have left the gathering in question.

Diderot's fellow-philosophe Jean-Jacques Rousseau also recognised his own affliction with l’esprit de l’escalier, staircase wit. In his autobiographical book Confessions he blamed such social blunders and missed opportunities for turning him into a misanthrope, and reassured himself that he was better at 'conversations by mail'.

[edit] Treppenwitz Trepverter

The German word Treppenwitz or the Yiddish word Trepverter are used to express the same idea. The German term is old, but it was made popular by W. Lewis Hertslet in a 1882 book entitled Treppenwitz der Weltgeschichte^[2] ("Stair-joke of world history").

[edit] In popular culture

TV comedy series Seinfeld episode "The Comeback" explored the concept of "staircase wit". Author Chuck Palahniuk's infamous short story "Guts," included in his novel Haunted, features a detailed explanation of "staircase wit."
In the novel Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, protagonist Marcus Yallow describes his experience with l'esprit de l'escalier while detained as an enemy combatant. However, his instance of l'esprit de l'escalier takes place before the fact (since he knows he is going to be interrogated); he explains that he had known, in his cell, exactly what he wanted to say; but his courage and conviction had left him when the time came to say it.

[edit] References