Repartee

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Caricature (Prussian border official and Bohemian fisherman):
“Do you know that you are at the border? Do you have a permit to fish Prussian fish? ”
“ I only catch the Austrian ones. If I catch a Prussian, I throw it back into the water. ”
“ And how do you recognize it? ”
“ Very well; every Prussian fish has a big mouth. "

As repartee is called a fast, apt, mostly witty response to linguistic "attacks". It shows intelligence and presence of mind.

meaning

A quick-witted person is someone who can respond appropriately and wittily to an unexpected comment or question. The skills of famous personalities are found in collections of anecdotes and quotes . Famous (and feared) were Otto von Bismarck , Hermann Ehlers , Winston Churchill , Franz Josef Strauss and Herbert Wehner .

Quick-wittedness can surprise the counterpart or the audience, but also the quick-witted speaker himself, who reacts spontaneously without the possibility of reflection. If you follow Niklas Luhmann , a surprise increases the likelihood that the ongoing communication will continue. Quick-wittedness can therefore be a particularly good example of the successful continuation of a communication , because contrary to expectations, what should actually be prevented by an invective succeeds . The attacked draws the attention of the listener and creates a connection in a situation that is not designed for connectivity. In this sense, a quick-witted remark would not be a “ punch line ” towards which a dramaturgy is heading, but a reaction to events that could otherwise possibly stop communication - if you will, a kind of “emergency switch” that ensures that communication takes place In any case, it continues to flow, no matter how stupid, embarrassing or unpleasant the comment the other person has just made.

In parliamentary rhetoric and talk shows , quick-wittedness makes it possible to react confidently to heckling or “stupid questions” or to downplay embarrassing incidents. It has entertainment value in television shows. Many presenters and comedians are used for their quick-wittedness; because it helps to bridge breaks.

Many jokes live on reparteeism.

Learnability

Successful trainers have been claiming to improve the quick-wittedness of paying customers since 1995. Advisory literature also deals with this topic. Institutes for professional development and providers of seminars sell “quick-wittedness” mostly under fashionable artistic terms such as “provocative rhetoric” or “power talking”. It is not uncommon for this to be less about instructions for quick-wittedness than about training in aggressive assertiveness. Other quick-wittedness trainers offer courses that are designed to make it easier for shy people to counteract verbally if they are attacked, or to help them achieve social contacts and professional success more easily. The boundaries between rhetoric , conversation training and everyday conversation are blurred here .

In the Prussian officers' mess, quick-wittedness was trained hard. Friedrich Wilhelm IV was known for his amiable repartee. In the nobility and the corps of such wit is still expected and maintained.

Examples

  • Not proven, but still a prime example of quick-wittedness, is the following alleged statement by Winston Churchill : At one of Churchill's speeches in the House of Commons , an oppositional backbencher shouted : "If I were married to the man, I would put arsenic in his coffee." Then Churchill : "And if I were married to the lady, I would drink it."
  • At a reception, Edward VIII climbs the stairs. When an unmistakable body wind escapes him, the Duchess walking behind him hisses: “That has never happened to me.” Then Eduard, astonished: “Really? I could have bet it was mine. "
  • A reporter asked Franz Josef Strauss on television if he was a cold warrior . Then Strauss: "I would rather be a cold warrior than a warm brother."
  • At his penultimate State of the Union Address on January 20, 2015, the then US President and Democrat Barack Obama was interrupted by sneering applause from Republicans after the sentence "I will not campaign again", who were apparently pleased that Obama was due of the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution could not run a third time. Obama responded to the applause with the following remark in the direction of the Republicans: "I know this because I won the last two."

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: repartee  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Time (1954)
  2. ^ Prussian Society Berlin-Brandenburg
  3. ↑ http://amp.businessinsider.com/obama-i-know-cause-i-won-both-of-them-2015-1