Some time ago, I believe one Christmas, a friend bought for me a slim volume titled 'I wish I'd said that' which is full of such gems.
My favourites that I can remember off the top of my head:- Two actresses approaching a revolving(?) door one pauses to allow the other to go first with the words 'Age before beauty', the other sales on through with the retort 'Yes, and pearls before swine'. A certain lady accused Winston Churchill of being drunk - to which he retorted 'And you madam are ugly, but I will be sober in the morning'. A man who had commissioned a portrait from the artist Whistler looking at the picture commented that it was hardly a great work of art; to which Whistler replied 'But you are hardly a great work of nature'. When Whistler was in court in the witness stand the subject of the charge for a painting came up worked out to be x guineas for 5 minutes work. To which Whistler replied no I charge that for a lifetime of experience. The title of the book comes from a comment by Oscar Wilde on overhearing a witty reply. At the time he was with Whistler, who knew of Wilde's habit of using other's comments, replied, 'You will Oscar, you will'. In my case I usually think of the witty retort too late - according to the book known by the French as l'espirit d'escalier - the comment you think of as you're going down the stairs when its too late. I'd be interested in hearing from our French speakers it is a phrase/concept that is still used. I believe other French phrases are still used in English but not in French such as RSVP is this possibly another. I'm feeling suitably mellow after a glass of wine, and I'm off to bed to recuperate from switching the sewing room and the master bedroom as we need more space for the sewing room. Peter To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
