Stairwell Wit
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Cadwell NOT Caldwell
Stairwell Wit
[2 minute read ]
If anyone is like me they will have hundreds of files that are now hidden from easy discovery on their laptops or computers. I do the computer 'housework' every year or so, creating folders and moving files into them, saving back-ups to flash-drives and so on. But for some paranoid reason I need to back-up the flashdrives to the same hard disk drive where most of the files were originally collected. But now I have new folders called 128Gb or 64Gb that have the same files in them as the 'Documents' folders on the laptop. It is quite difficult for me to delete files because I know that files can mysteriously deteriorate and become unreadable. I know how this happens too and it is not just about the integrity of the storage device. When files were stored to Rewritable CDs and DVDs the integrity of the material was an issue, and sections of the disk subsurfaces sometimes deteriorated. This meant completely losing the portions of files that were saved there. If this included the meta-data the files were permanently gone, except I suppose to superior experts in file-recovery like Government agencies.
After careful sifting of hard drives and solid state storage devices. such as flash-drives, last night, I found what I have been seeking for months now.
I have known for a long time that there is a word (actually a phrase) for thinking of a retort in a conversation after we have left the conversation and moved away from the person to whom we would have directed it. I suppose I might have used an AI search system to find it online but I know that I never want to do that! A thorough search on my lap tops and flash drives last night revealed the French phrase, 'L'esprit de l'escalier' (Literally 'stairwell wit') I am assured. Last night I was excited to find it, yet this morning I realise that I can never probably actually say 'stairwell wit' to someone as a shortcut to mean I only thought of something to say after I had left, with any strong belief that that know what I mean. On well! I am usually pleasantly surprised by people though.
That expression is in a list of 37 words and phrases from around the world which I must have copied form a website. A German word, 'Packesel' is given as being someone who is stuck carrying everyone else's bags. A great notion in developing a character in fiction, I think.
The Danes have a word, 'Kaelling' for a woman that stands on her doorstep, or in a supermarket queue, or in the park, yelling at her children. Google Translate pronounces it as 'Kaling' in English. However, it seems to be in the English language because the Cambridge Dictionary (online) has the definitions, 'hag' and 'cow' for this word, and Google translate thinks it is in the English language too. So, why are Kaellings called Karens?
'Layogenic' could easily fit into my vocabulary or written lexis. It is supposedly a Tagalog word which means everything looks fine from a distance but up close it is a big old mess. Apparently, from my un-referenced pages, Cher, played by Alicia Silverstone, in Clueless, described someone as a full-on Monet ... from far away...
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