The Crushing Retort

Made the following observation during a discussion with Neuro, with unusual succinctness:

…as smart people, we have this perpetual stupid fantasy I call The Crushing Retort:  the idea that if we just manage to say that perfect thing, our enemies will be so overwhelmed by our masterful and superior intellects that they’ll immolate, or run away crying, or give up, instead of getting even madder or just beating the crap out of us…

“Perpetual” and “stupid” at least on my behalf, because even though I know it’s a fantasy, I still catch myself engaging in it with some frequency.

This is a parallel concept to that expressed by my all-time favorite French term, l’esprit d’escalier (literally, “the spirit of the staircase”), which is when you think of the perfect comeback three minutes after the argument is over and you’re on your way out of the building.