skryche

I'm sure you're familiar with schadenfreude, the delicious and dark enjoyment of someone else's misfortune. I came across another fun German term recently: steppenwitz ("staircase wit"), the witty retort that occurs to you a few minutes too late.

Hate the Germans? You can also use the much more common l'esprit d'escalier. Harder to remember, I think.

If you have a good heart and are extremely funny and clever, you will have no use for either of these words.

So: last night I joined AlexKarina for dinner and drinks and to discuss grandiose plans. We dined at a moroccan restaurant near a woman that AK was almost entirely certain was Norah Jones. At the bars he recounted filthy stories to me in a low voice so as not to offend the pretty bartenders.

I bought Chris Ware's Quimby the Mouse.

I was thinking the other day how I can never remember how to pronounce "grandiose". Does anybody actually know? I only ever see it written down. Words that I often must stop myself from pronouncing incorrectly: banal (BAY-nul), annihilate (uh-NILLY-ate), foyer (foy-YAY). What are yours?