a slip of the tongue

slip of the tongue

A small mistake made when speaking. I accidentally called John by his brother's name. It was just a slip of the tongue. The news anchor's innocent slip of the tongue has gone viral, of course.
See also: of, slip, tongue
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a slip of the tongue

A slip of the tongue is something that you said by mistake. At one stage he referred to her as James's `fiancée' but later said that was a slip of the tongue and that they were not formally engaged.
See also: of, slip, tongue
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

a slip of the ˈtongue/ˈpen

a small mistake when speaking or writing: Did I say North Street? Sorry, that was a slip of the tongue — I meant South Street.
See also: of, pen, slip, tongue
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • slip of the tongue
  • slip of the lip
  • slip of a (something)
  • a slip of a
  • a slip of a boy, girl, etc.
  • the slip
  • give (one) the slip
  • give somebody the slip
  • give someone the slip
  • give the slip
References in periodicals archive
'I think they're just a slip of the tongue because the [Daesh] combatants are being carried to the borderline between Afghanistan and Tajikistan from the Afghan territory, and we cooperate closely with Pakistan in fighting terrorism as well as on the Afghan agenda, and we share common concerns regarding [Daesh] gaining momentum on the territory there and the extent and full expansion of that terrorist group, ' she added.
"I think they're just a slip of the tongue because the [Daesh] combatants are being carried to the borderline between Afghanistan and Tajikistan from the Afghan territory, and we cooperate closely with Pakistan in fighting terrorism as well as on the Afghan agenda, and we share common concerns regarding [Daesh] gaining momentum on the territory there and the extent and full expansion of that terrorist group." Earlier this week, Special Representative of the Russian President on Afghanistan, Ambassador Zamir Kabulov called on Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the Foreign Office in Islamabad.
His episode is a simple example of a slip of the tongue, "an error in speaking in which a word is pronounced incorrectly, or in which the speaker says something unintentionally."
Not surprisingly, he confused "eo" of meositta with "a" of masitta for a slip of the tongue. During a dinner party, he told a graceful Korean lady, "You look masitta," instead of "meositta," to her embarrassment and the laughter of Korean guests.
HARRY REDKNAPP is not the first pundit or studio guest to let slip a naughty word with a slip of the tongue - and won't be the last.
IT WAS clearly just a slip of the tongue, obviously not a Freudian slip, but an amusing slip all the same.
Zainah has responded to the uproar, and attempted to cool the situation by saying that she feels that the remark made by the miniter was not malicious and it was just a slip of the tongue.
A slip of the tongue on Monday morning saw the Radio 4 presenter unfortunately mispronounce Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt's surname as the C-word.
North Korea became briefly a "strategic partner" of the EU Friday afternoon because of a slip of the tongue of the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
However, moments later he retracted his statement, saying it was merely "a slip of the tongue".
It was not, however, made clear that the Assembly Record of Proceedings was accurate and that she had in fact made a slip of the tongue.
But a slip of the tongue meant His Honour told startled barristers: "We have here an application for cuff links."
"If this was a just a slip of the tongue, on the radio then one would hope she would clarify what she really meant."
Mr Latham said: "It was, we suggest, a slip of the tongue. An innocent could not have known the reported sighting was wrong, could he?
A BBC spokeswoman said yesterday: "It was a slip of the tongue and John apologised immediately afterwards."