Many years ago a college professor of mine told us the word that describes "knowing the right thing to say after the right time to say it has passed." I remembered it for about 5 seconds and then, whoooosh!, out of the brain it went. Does ANYONE know what that word might be????

What the French call "esprit d'escalier" or "l'esprit de l'escalier", ie the witty saying (or bon mot) that only comes to mind too late. From the French philosopher Diderot, <Paradoxe sur le comedien>. Sorry I can't work out how to do pronunciation accents.

broadly, ess-SPREE dess-kahl-YAY

broadly translated, wit of the staircase

Oxford Dictionary of Quotations:"An untranslatable phrase, the meaning of which is that one only thinks on one's way downstairs of the smart retort one might have made in the drawing room."

on a related note: afterwit - wisdom or perception that comes after it can be of use

"An untranslatable phrase, the meaning of which is that one only thinks on one's way downstairs of the smart retort one might have made in the drawing room."

now this is one i can use, since i NEVER think of the smart retort until it's too late.
mind you, it's not on the stairs, it's usually after a couple of whiskies back at home.
esprit de l'esprit?

Welcome aBoard, reeses!
Are you related to the candy, by any chance?
(And if you are, will you adopt me?)

Anyway--don't "tritz" as you drink your spirits, going
either up or down the stairs!

I know a few people with the tendency to make a witty and barbed comment rather too readily - they'd benefit from a dose of esprit d'escalier. Is there a single word to describe that, I wonder?

<Sorry I can't work out how to do pronunciation accents.>

what i really meant was that i couldn't figure out how to put in the acutes, graves, cedillas, etc.

.........and i've always wondered what you call the "O" with a diagonal line through it that you get in Swedish, Norwegian, etc./???????????

oh look I'm a newbie!!!!!!!!

"esprit d'escalier"!!!
This is not exactly what I was looking for---it's better! Being of Cajun descent, I much prefer the French phrase to the word the professor actually gave us which was "afterwit". Thanks y'all for the great input!

P.S. How does one move from being "stranger" (than what?) to "newbie", etc...?

> How does one move from being "stranger"...

post... post... post...

>post... post... post...

I canter, I canter, I canter, which makes me post... post... post...

Interesting! Canter comes from Canterbury, shortening of the Canterbury gallop, which is the pace at which pilgrims traveled there. I suppose you could go faster, it's your Chaucer.

well, I hope this isn't too much of a spoiler for anyone. . .

reeces, the post requirements are: for newbie, 25; for journeyman, 50; for member, 100; for enthusiast, 200, and for addict, 400. We have yet to discover the next level's title, which, I would have to make a guess, is at 800 posts.

>>oh look I'm a newbie!!!!!!!!

Bit of a stretch, there wasn't it?
Never mind--many of us have been guilty of padding!
Keep 'em coming.

Unfortunately I am not related to the candy family. I used to work with someone whose last name was Brach. We'd often commiserate about how we'd not be here if only our names were on the proper family trees. When people ask me how to spell my name (how difficult is Reese?), I'll often say "R E E S E, like the candy, no relation." Guess it's good for a chuckle or two.

Happy weekend, All!

reese and brach on the same job?? How sweet!

One year in my dormitory at college, there were two girls
who shared a room, and their last names were Box and Spring.

Yet again those of us not in the USA are starting to feel left out (well I am, anyway). What are you talking about? I've never heard of a reeses or brach chocolate bar (?).

Bingley

Reese's Pieces (an M&M-like candy) claim to fame is Product Placement in the ET movie.

>Yet again those of us not in the USA are starting to feel left out

Gosh, that was the position I played when I was a kid!

Ted dexterously (but with sinister intent) weaves THREE threads together :)

>>Yet again those of us not in the USA are starting to feel left out (well I am, anyway). What are you talking about? I've never heard of a reeses or brach chocolate bar (?).

Sorry--guess this was kind of a payback for Marathon, which to me is a gas station. (ok, petrol station!) :-)
Reese's also makes the famous peanut butter cups. Brach is
a long-established candy company. One of my favorites is
their peppermint stars--they look as though a candy cane has been sliced into bite-sized pieces, individually wrapped.