foot in one's mouth, put one's
put (one's) foot in (one's) mouth
To unintentionally say something foolish, tactless, or offensive. He just tends to put his foot in his mouth when he's forced to speak for too long, so try to get him off stage as soon as possible. Oh man, did I ever put my foot in my mouth—I just congratulated Sarah's sister on being pregnant. She isn't.
See also: foot, mouth, put
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
foot in one's mouth, put one's
Say something foolish, embarrassing, or tactless. For example, Jane put her foot in her mouth when she called him by her first husband's name. This notion is sometimes put as having foot-in-mouth disease, as in He has a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease, always making some tactless remark. The first expression dates from about 1900. The variant, dating from the mid-1900s, is a play on the foot-and-mouth (sometimes called hoof-and-mouth) disease that afflicts cattle, causing eruptions to break out around the mouth and hoofs.
See also: foot, put
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
- put (one's) foot in (one's) mouth
- put foot in mouth
- stick (one's) foot in (one's) mouth
- foot-in-mouth disease
- put one's foot in it
- put your foot in it
- put (one's) foot in it
- if you keep your mouth shut, you won't put your foot in it
- drop a brick
- drop a brick/clanger