"I know your face so well—but I am such a bad hand at names;" i.e., "Never saw him before in my life!"
"Pray allow me to get it;" i.e., "Catch me moving!"
"You know you can trust me implicitly;" i.e., "May be a good story to tell."
"He has such wonderful wit;" i.e., "An unfailing flow of rudeness which he calls repartee."
"Rather satirical, yes: but she has marvellous insight into character;" i.e., "She has been complimenting me."
Platformulars.
"These, then, are the arguments;" i.e., "They're all yawning—must end somehow."
"A crushing reply;" i.e., a retort discourteous, in which all the points of the attack are adroitly evaded.
"After the magnificent oration to which we have just listened with so much delight, I feel that anything that I can say must be in the nature of an anti-climax;" i.e., "Confound him! Why will he take all the 'fat' to himself, and cut the ground from under a fellow's feet?"
"I have the greatest possible pleasure in presiding over this magnificent assembly on this memorable occasion;" i.e., "Place is like a malodorous oven, and I wish to goodness it were all over."