JdelaSilviera said:
Just some immediate stuff... your atittude is more important than your answers...
^^ This. It does not really matter what words you respond with. What matters is that your body shows that what they have said does not affect you in anyway, and you could not give two ****s about their opinion.
Personally I'm good at banter and comebacks, although at times I don't even have to say a witty comeback and I'll still win, because I maintain a mindset of not giving 2 ****s and this is expressed in my body language.
Here's an example:
At a party, a bigger guy then me was trying to put me down by asking how much I bench, I answer then he immediately quips back that he can do 30kg more than me. I just calmly say "I didn't realise we were competing" with a smile on my face and he started backtracking realising I had shown him up for bragging. He then apologised to me later telling me that he wasn't competing either, when I had forgotten all about it.
Another example was where a guy at a house party said "You're big but I'm bigger than you" out of the blue, I just went "That's cool" and walked off.
Another important point is investment, when they invest a lot into the attempted put down, and you respond with equal investment, you're going to lose eg. responding to "Shut up phaggot" by fighting him - you lose.
But when you respond with no investment, then you automatically win eg. "Shut up Phaggot" "Sure (sarcastic)"
Less is more. it doesn't even need to be witty, just respond in a curt sarcastic manner, or simply laugh like they've said something stupid. Never stoop down to their level.