why this? why now?

[Originally posted on Dec. 22nd 2003]

As the poster child for A.D.D., I have often marvelled at my brain's ability to come up with the wittiest observations and snappiest retorts...minutes, hours, or even days after they have ceased to be even remotely relevent. Worse yet...with most of my family and friends half a world away, I usually get the urge to 'chew the fat' well after most of the western world has gone to bed. Naturally, by the time the sun peeks over North America, my muse has taken a powder.

Therefore, I was amazed to discover that there exists a word that neatly sums up my tardy parries and belated ripostes: treppenwitz.

The English language has no handy word for what the Germans know as treppenwitz: literally, the "wit of the staircase," - those clever remarks or cutting rejoinders that only come to mind once it's too late to deliver them (as one is headed down the stairs and out of the house). *

Now that I had a name for my particular malady...it was only a matter of time before I applied the concept to the A.D.D. sufferer's best friend: The Weblog. With the birth of this 'blog, my muse (who seems to travel with neither watch nor bus fare) will be free to dispense inspiration according to its own schedule, and I can share my thoughts, dreams and experiences with more than an empty stairwell.

* Thanks to Snopes for the working definition I have paraphrased here.