faux pas

faux pas

An embarrassing blunder or breach of proper etiquette, often made in front of other people. Daria didn't realize she had made such a faux pas when she went to use her salad fork to eat the main course.
See also: faux, pas
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

(make/commit) a ˌfaux ˈpas

(from French) an action or a remark that causes embarrassment because it is not socially correct: I immediately made a faux pas when I forgot to take my shoes off before I went into the house. They were kind enough to overlook my faux pas and continued as if nothing had happened.
The meaning of the French expression is ‘wrong step’.
See also: faux, pas
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • faux
  • a faux pas
  • pas
  • have (something) made
  • have it made
  • have made
  • make it (to something or some place)
  • make it some place
  • make it to
  • be made for (someone or something)
References in periodicals archive
The top 10 flying faux pas include being rude to crew/ staff, parents failing to discipline their children, someone that crowds your seat and/or hogs the "extra" middle seat, travelers talking loudly on the plane, people blocking the baggage claim area for others, those that recline their seat into your seating area, people that bring stinky food on the plane, travelers that hog the carry-on bin, people that rush off the plane versus waiting for passengers in front to exit and people who block the aisles during a flight.
Kevin Pietersen will face disciplinary action over his foul-mouthed Twitter faux pas, in which he accidentally announced his exclusion from the England team.
Em 2007, editei pela Gallimard os artigos de critica literaria publicados por Blanchot no Journal des debats entre 1941 e 1944 que nao se achavam em Faux Pas: mais de uma centena, portanto.
Two independent judges categorized these situations into faux pas, center of attention, or sticky situation (98.23% initial agreement, discussion led to complete consensus of ratings).
FAUX PAS? A NO-NONSENSE GUIDE TO WORDS AND PHRASES FROM OTHER LANGUAGES will reach many casual readers as well as English language library holdings, offering an approachable and even fun set of insights into hundreds of phrases readers may want to use in their writings.
Now I'm grateful for my cultural faux pas with Isabela and for her setting me straight.
Rickenbacher, author of Be on Your Best Business Behavior: How to Avoid Social and Professional Faux Pas (Brown Books; $13.95) and an etiquette consultant whose clients include FedEx and Four Seasons Resorts.
Now I'm no conspiracy theorist, but could it be that the reason for Prince Harry's fancy-dress faux pas is a similar attempt to get out of the Army?
Be On Your Best Business Behavior: How To Avoid Social and Professional Faux Pas is a no-nonsense guide to buisness etiquette when tipping, traveling, conversation, and entertaining.
Swindon, by Kingmambo out of an Irish Oaks winner, is a fascinating newcomer on pedigree and is in receipt of a handy weight allowance, but she will need to be quite useful to overcome inexperience and preference is for Major Faux Pas, who sets the standard.
Samples of Vice's priceless commentaries that skewer the fashion-challenged: The woman in the for is dubbed the "mind-blowingly hot" mistress of a dead Italian, while the young man is presumed a French Canadian whose "huge women's earrings" are a faux pas surpassed only by his mom's "biker shorts,"
After be told his wife about the faux pas, however, she persuaded him to report the loss to the Flathead County Sheriff's Office.
Carlos has built her theme on a foundation of national stereotypes and behavioral cliches, most of which more or less hold until she characterizes Australia as the "only true southern continent"--something of a faux pas in a colonized country anxious to get out from (down) under its peripheral relation to Europe and America.
The first edition of publisher Gregg Ogden and editor Marl See's monthly Celebrate Northwest Arkansas has hit the streets--with a faux pas on the cover.
It's always the other fellows who don't read the land right, or who make the faux pas, or who have some skeleton in their closets, or who don't realize they've lashed themselves to some position that's going to anchor them in the political deep.