Normally, the perfect quip floats into my addled brain no sooner than an hour after it could have been helpful. Witty banter – got it. Sly flirtations – got those too. The response to those in need of a substantive verbal smack down without my need to be humble or self-deprecating – delivered with half my brain cells tied in hung-over knots behind my back. The one-liner that balances snarkasm (the evolutionary cross between snark and sarcasm,) brings the funny, and puts another very gently in his/her place – yeah that one always arrives too late.
I started thinking about this after reading this post from My Other Favorite Lemon where she had the perfect conversation ending response to her soon-to-be Father-In-Law. This has happened precisely one time in my life.
If you have read this post, or this one, or even this one, it is no surprise that I favor suits (editorial aside: I once got the best costume award at a friend’s Halloween Party by arriving in costume of denim overalls, t-shirt, and red handkerchief flowing from my back pocket.) At a happy hour hosted by this very cool gent and predominantly populated by casually dressed political progressives and their ilk, I happened to be wearing one of my favorite bespoke duds.
While waiting for a cocktail at the bar, a well packaged casually dressed gentleman that I have met once or twice playfully asked me “Refugee, what does it feel like to always be the only guy in the room in a suit?” After a pausing for a beat to think, I said with a wink “like the rest of you mutherfuckers are underdressed.”
Ahh, thanks so much! I’m flattered. And your response was PERFECT! So much better to be overdressed than under.
Oooh! I’m stealing ‘snarkasm’, if you don’t mind (or even if you do, actually).
I think that you should get yourself a denim suit for the more casually dressed outing. Maybe something in acid wash….
Maybe for next Halloween. By the by, if you are going to write something really funny let me know up front so I don’t read on my phone while walking through heavily populated places.