''L'esprit de l'escalier'' or (, , ; ) is a
French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
term used in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
for the predicament of thinking of the perfect reply too late.
Origin
This name for the phenomenon comes from French encyclopedist and philosopher
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during th ...
's description of such a situation in his "
Paradoxe sur le comédien" ("Paradox of the Actor").
[Paradoxe sur le comédien, 1773, remanié en 1778; Diderot II, Classiques Larousse 1934, p. 56] During a dinner at the home of statesman
Jacques Necker
Jacques Necker (; 30 September 1732 – 9 April 1804) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan banker and statesman who served as List of Finance Ministers of France, finance minister for Louis XVI of France, Louis XVI. He was a reformer, but his innov ...
, a remark was made to Diderot which left him speechless at the time, because, he explains, "a sensitive man, such as myself, overwhelmed by the argument levelled against him, becomes confused and doesn't come to himself again until at the bottom of the stairs" ("").
In this case, "the bottom of the stairs" refers to the architecture of the kind of or mansion to which Diderot had been invited. In such houses, the
reception rooms were on the , one floor above the ground floor. To have reached the bottom of the stairs means to have definitively left the gathering.
In other languages
An older English term that was sometimes used for this meaning is ''afterwit''; it is used, for example, in
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...
's ''
Ulysses
Ulysses is the Latin name for Odysseus, a legendary Greek hero recognized for his intelligence and cunning. He is famous for his long, adventurous journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, as narrated in Homer's Odyssey.
Ulysses may also refer ...
'' (Chapter 9).
The
Yiddish
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
("staircase words") and the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
loan translation
In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language whil ...
''
Treppenwitz'' express the same idea as . However, in contemporary German has an additional meaning: it refers to events or facts that seem to contradict their own background or context. The frequently used phrase ("staircase joke of world history") derives from the title of a book by that name by
(1882; much expanded 1895) and means "irony of history" or "paradox of history".
In
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
, the notion is close to the native Russian saying "" (', "Our
hindsight
Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along phenomenon or creeping determinism, is the common tendency for people to perceive past events as having been more predictable than they were.
After an event has occurred, people often believe ...
is strong").
The French expression is also used in French. English speakers sometimes call this "escalator wit" or "staircase wit".
See also
*
"The Comeback" (''Seinfeld'')
*
Comic timing
Comic timing or comedic timing emerges from a performer's joke delivery: they interact with an audience— intonation, rhythm, cadence, tempo, and pausing—to guide the audience's laughter, which then guides the comedic narrative. The pacing ...
*
Epimetheus
In Greek mythology, Epimetheus (; ) is the brother of Prometheus, the pair serving "as representatives of mankind". Both sons of the Titan Iapetus, while Prometheus ("foresight") is ingeniously clever, Epimetheus ("hindsight") is inept and fool ...
*
Hindsight
Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along phenomenon or creeping determinism, is the common tendency for people to perceive past events as having been more predictable than they were.
After an event has occurred, people often believe ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Esprit De L'escalier, L'
1770s neologisms
1770s quotations
French words and phrases
Figures of speech
Quotations from literature
Philosophical phrases