“It’s not too late to learn about the definition of l’esprit de l’escalier.”
l’esprit de l’escalier
Definition (noun): a perfect comeback thought of on the way home and, therefore, much too late. “The French have had the wit to pack into the words esprit d’escalier the common experience that one’s happiest retorts occur to one only when the chance of uttering them is gone, the door is closed, and one’s feet are on the staircase. That is well worth introducing to an English audience; the only question is whether it is of any use to translate it without explanation. No one will know what spirit of the staircase is who is not already familiar with esprit d’escalier; and even he who is may not recognize it in disguise, seeing that esprit does not mean spirit (which suggests a goblin lurking in the hall clock), but wit.”
-From The King’s English by H. W. and F. G. Fowler
Pronunciation: l-es-pre-del-es-cal-yay
About the Word:
From the French meaning “staircase wit.”