a 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
  • 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
Of course, the madeto-measure process seems to take forever and it's amazing how quickly a fad can become a faux pas. My new suit accompanied me on one special trip to London with my parents, but was soon pushed to the back of the wardrobe as I opted for something off-the-peg at my favourite Church Street store, the former C & A's.
Sunday memories; KEN ROGERS journeys into Liverpool's past
Summary: Aligarh(Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 26 (ANI): Minister of State (MoS) for Basic and Secondary Education Sandeep Singh on Friday made a faux pas and termed the 69th Republic Day as 59th.
UP minister goofs up 69th R-Day as 59th
In other words, there is no such thing as a faux pas. Go for it and worry not, for even if it's a strange get-up it'll leave smiles on people's faces, and that's always a good thing.
closet confidential
He said: "We can all make a faux pas. You have to laugh about yourself, grow up and apologise.
BLANC EATS HUMBLE PIE OVER TWITTER RANT; EXCLUSIVE
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,"
Fashion bashin': Vice magazine's take-no prisoners fashion guide is universally offensive and very funny
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.
Heat seeker: Jeff Gibson on the Biennale of Sydney
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.
Oopsie!
But the Panther raised his eyebrows as if someone had committed a faux pas and repeated, slowly, "All power to the People." The group chanted, "All power to the People."
Infiltrators
At least one of the two people involved in each session, one feels, must somehow have been c ommitting a faux pas just by being there, since the ethics of the artist-critic relationship predude not only having the body of the artist in view instead of the body of work but also any active participation by the critic in the artist's studio process (the disdain meted out in certain cirdes to the Color Field painters could be summed up in the charge that they let Clem tell them where to crop their paintings).
JEMIMA STEHLI
DID John Howard, the Aussie PM, commit a faux pas by putting his arm around the back of HM in Canberra?
James Whitaker column: There's no arm in it.