[genericsteele]

Idea: StackOverflow for comebacks

I've always had a hard time coming up with a good comeback in conversations. It would be great to have a site where I could post a situation and have the community suggest and upvote/downvote insults and comebacks. Maybe introduce a real-time element so I could use it in an actual conversation.

[conductr]

Real time? Good comebacks are immediate. Taking just 5s to consult your phone and deliver the comeback is just going to give the other guy more ammunition

[egypturnash]

Here's an analog solution to your problem: Find some of the collections of "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions", a long-running series Al Jaffee did in MAD. It took the format of a cartoon drawing setting up the situation, with one person asking a question, and another offering three funny answers, plus a blank to write your own. Which is super valuable, because a lot of having a good comeback is rehearsing a bunch of them beforehand, so you have something ready.

(For instance sometimes I like to wear little horns glued to my forehead while looking otherwise normal. People regularly ask me "are those real?" By repeatedly answering that question, I now know that some variant of "yeah, I used to file them down, but I've been letting them grow out because I've been busy" will get a laugh.)

[rbonvall]

You can literally create a StackOverflow for comebacks at http://area51.stackexchange.com/

If you do, I'll commit to it :)

[rokhayakebe]

I suggest you pick up books on Rhetoric, the art of persuasive speaking. There exist some people who will win any argument regardless of how sound their logic is.

[karangoeluw]

Twitter?

[genericsteele]

Yes, but I think it would be fun to gamify it somehow.

[clarry]

Reddit.

EDDIT: Re gamifying, karma does it.