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.
See also:
  • l'esprit de l'escalier
  • zinger
  • DYSWIDT?
  • bon mot
  • (it) takes one to know one
  • it takes one to know one
  • takes one to know one
  • because reasons
  • because is why
  • your mom
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