Swap!!

Over on Investor Village's SCOX board, there's a thread about "when insults had class" - when quick wit resulted in darted barbs and creative use of the English language.

Example:
Lady Astor: "Mr. Churchill, you are DRUNK!"
Winston Churchill: "Yes madam, and you are ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober."

Example:
Lady Astor: "If you were my husband, I should poison your coffee!"
Churchill: "If you were my wife, I should drink it!"


Example:
Gladstone: "You, sir, will die either on the gallows or of a horrible disease."
Disraeli: "That depends upon whether I embrace your principles or your mistress."