O Wit, Where is Thy Sting?

I remember being sharper. And funnier. There have been a number of moments in the past couple weeks where someone would say something, or I'd see something and all I'd think is, "Huh, I'd usually have a good quip for this...". And I'd stare off in space with what must be a bovine gaze.

If wit be the salt of conversation, I've been having some bland meals of late. What disturbs me the most is that I'm becoming intollerant of wit, or rather I'm impatient with it. I think it's that I've brushed shoulders with so many witty hipsters in this city. This place is dense with easy wit. By "easy wit", I mean using wit as a shield of insolence rather than to provoke thought and conversation. It isn't too tough to culture the ability to dismiss things with a quip, but it is tough to use wit to engage people in thoughtful dialogue.

This sort of mannered rudeness is becoming taxing, and we're rife with it. Where did this legacy come from? Is it the mingling of the former generation's activism and the disaffected bow-out of gen-x that gives birth to this sort of distanced snobbery? I don't know, but I know that this isn't the 18th century and wit-shields aren't exactly productive.

Oog, I just put myself into a mood.

/rant off