Charientismus
Defusing hostility by answering a harsh remark with a graceful joke.
Charientismus is the figure of turning aside an insult or an awkward accusation with wit rather than with denial or counterattack. The Greek root is charis, grace: the reply is soft in manner and firm in effect, because it removes the attacker's momentum without matching their tone.
Renaissance rhetoricians such as Puttenham listed it among the figures of pleasant speech, distinguishing it from asteismus (polite civil jesting generally) by its defensive occasion — charientismus answers something unpleasant.
It is the standard tool of skilled public figures under hostile questioning. The joke concedes nothing, but the audience registers composure, and composure is read as strength.
Common mistake: making the joke at the questioner's expense, which converts charientismus into a put-down and forfeits the grace that made it work.
“Asked whether he was too old for a second term, Reagan replied that he would not exploit his opponent's "youth and inexperience".”
Keep reading the glossary
A polite, witty reply that deliberately takes the speaker's words in another sense.
Quick, witty reply-and-counter-reply — wit measured by speed as much as by content.
A quick, sharp reply that turns an opponent's remark back on them.
A quick reply that answers, and ideally reverses, an insult or challenge.