Talk:l'esprit de l'escalier

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/'aipi,e plis/

I came here specifically hoping to find an IPA pronunciation. Should someone maybe start a project for French speakers to provide IPA pronunciations for French loanwords in the English Wictionary?

Wouldn't l'esprit d'escalier describe:

- the condition of thinking too late of a rejoinder, rather than... - the rejoinder itself?

Yes, it refers to the frustrating predicament, not to the rejoinder itself. —Stephen 09:24, 17 October 2008 (UTC)Reply

Right, I have changed the definitions to suit. Thanks.

I haven't looked Diderot up but I have never heard any one say esprit de l'escalier , like esprit d'escalier it could also suggest that it's the staircases which do the thinking instead of the person
esprit d'escalier or en escalier: today rather means that s.o. is very slow and understands by degrees (painstakingly deciphering the clues) Hope&Act3! 22:07, 4 June 2010 (UTC)Reply

RFC discussion: February 2010–December 2013

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for cleanup.

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.


At the very least needs two categories. I'm unsure if this is a bad entry title, should it be esprit de l'escalier or not? Mglovesfun (talk) 12:28, 25 February 2010 (UTC)Reply


Updates to {{en-noun}}

@Per utramque cavernam: No? Why not? — SGconlaw (talk) 16:37, 5 December 2018 (UTC)Reply

@Sgconlaw: Because the term has been borrowed as is, and is not composed of smaller parts in English. As far as I'm aware, escalier is not an English word. Per utramque cavernam 16:45, 5 December 2018 (UTC)Reply
Which is why I linked them to French words. — SGconlaw (talk) 16:47, 5 December 2018 (UTC)Reply
Oh, I see, there was an edit conflict and the change I made didn't get reflected. Would it be all right if I linked them to French words? — SGconlaw (talk) 16:47, 5 December 2018 (UTC)Reply
Mh, I'm none too fond of that idea but maybe that's just me... Couldn't that go into the etymology section instead? What do others think? Per utramque cavernam 17:01, 5 December 2018 (UTC)Reply
Well, the etymology links to the French term as a whole; not sure where we'd fit in the individual French words. — SGconlaw (talk) 17:06, 5 December 2018 (UTC)Reply