I’d heard about how someone in classical times had written to the Spartans something like “If I invade, you’ll get your asses handed to you.” The Spartans cleverly replied with one word: “If”

I recently looked it up in Wikipedia and found that it was Phillip II of Macedon who’d been writing to them. Which meant that the Spartans did get their asses handed to them.

Bunch of smug bastards really.

mostly lifted from Laconic phrase