Chandler: My diary! My diary, that’s brilliant. I should have told her it was my diary. She never would have made
me read her my diary.
Monica: You know, that’s true. You’d be a great person to have around the day after an emergency.
[Friends: The One with the List]
We’ve all had a moment like this. I previously posted about a Chandler Bing moment. It can be annoying when after something has happened we suddenly think of what we could have said. Its not always something important sometimes its just a quip.
Garan: Surrender your weapons, or die where you stand!
O’Neill: Oh, if I had a nickel!
[Stargate SG-1: It’s Good to Be King]
I really admire people who are able to do this. Some people have a mind so quick and can always think of the right thing to say. Paul Merton is very good at this.
All posts are better with pictures. Maybe this is where our unfortunate hero is held captive.
My characters are cleaver than me beyond this though. They know more than me too. I will only invent the world as I need it for the story. A character of mine, in a science fiction, might know all the Director Generals of the UN in the 23rd century.
This post is the product of a conversation I had with a friend they other day. I didn’t say anything bad but their were things I wished I’d said. Now though the things I wish I’d said seem a little OTT. So maybe what I actually said was better than what I wish I’d said.
So I’ll be happy to have characters who can; rally the troops, make the Picard-esk speech, say their version of ‘It is a far better thing I do now than I have ever done*’; quip with the best of them; have useful bits of knowledge; and know how to tell the beautiful woman that she is all kinds of wonderful.
This has been a bit of a ramble. I think I’m trying to say two distinct things. That there are things I wish I’d said in given situations – things that were only thoughts. Also there are things that I wish had occurred. At least I can know that characters I write can be that great. They can always know the right thing to say. They can always keep calm in a crises. They can comfort their friends. They can be the people we wish we could be. They can look each other in the eyes and speak with great eloquence and say the important things.**
* I’ve never read a Tale of two Cities. I have seen The Wrath of Khan.
** Unless of course its a plot point that they make a mistake.
I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
Unstable Orbit 
I really enjoyed this post. I remember an episode with Miles O’Brien in TNG that revolved around a coffee-drinking habit as a subtle indication of a problem – and then the coffee-drinking habit turned out not to be true.
With regard to saying the clever thing at the time, it has to be remembered that wit is not always kind, and it is better to be kind than witty.
I was thinking about that episode. It was actually a DS9 episode: Armageddon Game. I did have to look up the name.
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