Quip
A brief, witty remark — sharper than an observation, lighter than an argument.
A quip is a short, clever remark, usually spoken and usually spontaneous, that scores a small rhetorical point through wit rather than through weight. Its ancestor is the Latin quippe, 'indeed' or 'of course', which carried the tone of a knowing aside. In English the word settled by the sixteenth century into its modern sense: a sharp little sally, delivered in passing.
What distinguishes a quip from a joke is compression and target. A joke sets up and pays off; a quip lands in a single beat and often relies on the surrounding conversation to supply the setup. What distinguishes it from an aphorism is stakes. An aphorism claims to be true in general; a quip only claims to be well-timed.
Because quips are conversational, they age badly in print. Reading a collection of Oscar Wilde's quips outside of their contexts is like listening to punchlines with the jokes filed off — the wit survives, the occasion does not. Writers who want to preserve a quip in prose should give it a scene: the room, the previous line, the person it was aimed at.
Common mistake: mistaking rudeness for wit. A true quip is precise about its target and leaves the target intact enough to laugh. A quip that only wounds is a jab, and a page of jabs reads as bitterness, not brilliance.
“I can resist everything except temptation.”
Keep reading the glossary
A clever, often spontaneous remark that delivers humour through verbal ingenuity.
A neatly turned witty remark — literally a 'good word' in French.
A short, sharp statement that compresses a truth or observation into a single line.
A sharp, witty, and often cutting remark delivered for maximum effect — the modern cousin of the epigram.