What’s it about the classic repartee like ‘ Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go’ ( from the inimitable, Oscar Wilde ) that makes us applaud – the sarcasm, wordplay or the sheer witticism ?
Revisit the past and we discover that great minds and iconic leaders have often exhibited the ability for riposte with memorable quips that legends are made of. Sample this reply – A friend to Albert Einstein, “You walked up a whole block of this city and nobody even looked at you. While, only this morning, Marilyn Monroe ( the quintessential actress ), walked up the same block and thousands of people stopped in their tracks and gaped at her.” Einstein retorted, “My friend you seem to forget that she has a good deal more to show than I have.” Not to be outdone by men, is one from the actress, Cher “The problem with most women is that they get all excited about nothing, then marry him”.
As usual, politicians of yesteryears provided the most sparkling repartee – First woman British parliamentarian Nancy Astor took a potshot at Winston Churchill by saying “ If you were my husband, I would poison your coffee”, to which Churchill retorted “ If you were my wife, I would drink it “ ! Another, classic – somebody asked Benjamin Disraeli to tell a difference between misfortune and calamity, he then responded by taking on his opponent Gladstone, Benjamin retorted, “Well, if Mr. Gladstone fell into the Thames, it would be a misfortune; but if someone pulled him out, it would be a calamity.”
In today’s times, rejoinders and retorts (and specially witnessed in the social media trolls, political discourses and panel discussions in free-for-all channels with ‘Nation Want’s to Know’ kind of fire and hype ! ) no longer come in the form of subtle innuendos and repartee, but through personal attacks, wild allegations, barbs intended to hurt and embarrass. Here one will always find discord rankling openly as against sparkling wit !
The social media in all its inventiveness, also comes up with in-the-face cartoons, quips and howlers on the group or party that is to discredited. However, the most fascinating has been the popularity of ‘Memes’ – an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Net users, often with slight variations which bring altogether different connotations and meanings to the original text or context and cause great amusement to the viewers, at the cost of it’s victims !
Mahatma Gandhi was once asked “What do you think of the Western Civilization”? He smiled innocently saying “ That would be a good idea” ! Which of the present leaders match that repartee and ironical humour ?
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