French to English Other General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters Phrases/Sayings

I really don't have a context here, unless I tell you the story which taught me the phrase. I was at a very, very French New Year's Eve party, when I was about 15. It was an adult party, there were no other adolescents or children; I knew most people there, apart from one young woman, about 21, who was particularly, how to say, pushy, wearing a see-through blouse and no bra, and generally being very French sulky vamp I-want-all-the-men. This did not bother me at all (I wasn't interested in all those crinklies!!), but I obviously bothered her.

Anyway, next day at communal breakfast for those of us who had stayed over (this was in a very nice large chateau-domaine, where they did a lot of entertaining and had loads of rooms), I was up one end of the table, she was down the other, and she called down the table, 'Ho, la jeune, passe-moi le sel!' - this in a deliberately inflammatory tone, which was a continuation of her covert unpleasantness to me from the previous evening. The very nice lady next to me grabbed my hand to calm me - I passed the other woman the salt, and I defended myself and my youth; apparently very ably.

However, later I thought, damn, the perfect response was simply to pass the salt with a divine smile, saying 'Tiens, ma vieille.'

This, I was told, is esprit d'escalier. 'Afterthought' just is not good enough, and I would love to find a decent English phrase to reflect it.

A vous, les aminches!