A good comeback can turn enemies into friends – or at least get
them off your case. ‘Agree, then mock’ and ‘mock thanks/curiosity’ are
two ways to do this.
In a comment on my article about dismantling condescension,
Lawliet
asked about ball busting, comebacks, and zingers. I’ll save ball
busting for its own, separate article (it’s related but different). In
this article, I’d like to give
you a pair of formulas you can use to
build your own comebacks.
When I was in middle school, I was my school’s Comeback King – not
because I came back from any down-and-out situation, but because I had
a rare talent for lacing together comebacks that stung like an eyeful
of
salt. I tried to use my powers only for good – purely for defensive
purposes – but I always went out of my way to make sure everyone knew
any attempt to put Chase down socially was going to lead to a complete,
effortless, socially savvy shredding.
There are two primary ways I build comebacks. Most good comebacks
the world over follow the same principles, and if you get these
principles down,
you’ll be able to build your own great comebacks with
relative ease.
Comebacks are incredibly useful.
You’ll use them with girls when they test you or bust your balls.
You’ll use them with men who challenge you. You’ll use them any time
someone tries to make you look bad or undermines you.
Comebacks aren’t only to defeat your social foes, either. You will
find,
quite often, that after you slap someone down with a salty comeback,
that person’s respect for you and attraction to you (whether romantic
or platonic) goes up. I have comebacked my way into bed with
ball-buster girls and had men start who started off busting my balls
end up as friends after I laid down a razor-tipped comeback.
There’s only one catch, and it’s the same catch as with all Girls
Chase material: you’re going to have to practice this a while before
you get very good.
But the good news is, you can start on that practice right away.
Because the principles themselves are simple.
Let’s begin with Formula #1 of our two comeback formulas.
