What was your last faux pas?

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I ventured to explain to a very NT (and very stupid) girl which I only met 5 minutes ago why I didn't particularly like the French teacher I had once. Might have said that she didn't have the right teaching methods or whatever, but no, I told the truth: 'My teacher's false teeth didn't fit well so she had a horrible pronunciation.' Then, spotting perplexion on the girl's face I elaborated further: 'Well I was sitting right in the front, I could actually see the dentures shifting in her mouth'.
The look the poor NT gave me...

I don't see anything wrong with what you said!

At the dentist last week after doing my tooth the dental assistant held out her hand so I grabbed it and shook it. She looked embarrassed then said she actually wanted the tissue she'd given me earlier to wipe my mouth with.

Well actually I don't too, but apparently people here tend not to talk about the insides of their or other people's mouths in public unless it happens at the dentist's. Makes them feel sick or something.

Last edited by Severus on 23 Sep 2010, 2:04 am, edited 2 times in total.

I have no idea. Honestly. I'm sure it happens but I wouldn't be in the know to even realize what I did wrong. Sometimes I just have a hunch that something I said sounded "weird", yet I don't fully know why, and further people will always try their hardest to pretend not to notice or care.

People generally don't tell you if you do/say something wrong since pointing out a faux pas is itself a faux pas. People don't like to embarass others if it can be avoided. Therefore if you say something wrong there is often no clue, which is all the more reason to be paranoid and self-conscious. If someone does decide to let you know it will likely be done in a very passive aggressive manner. The game is impossible since you can never learn and you will never win.

Happens all the time - at least once a day. Today's was I ran into a recent widow and in trying to make her feel better I said "even though your children behaved horribly it's ok, because your husband had a good life." She was very quiet. After I got home and was watching a show on tv did I realize my faux pas. I called and just said "I'm sorry."

geez how do I keep apologizing to folk???

H.

My, I suppose her children are truly terrible

Probably telling my dad he should have been sterilized. I absolutely DO NOT regret it. He's been nothing but a ghost to me for 25 years even though we live in the same house. Today I had a seizure. He closed the door and walked away. I was facedown on the floor in my own vomit and mucous.

I'm going to kill him, I think, but I have too much to lose when he dies.

I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.

well, kinda terrible.... one tried to get their father fired, one was very sexually active while dad was principal, the other....... well, was ok.

I'm deeply sorry for the comment as I know they all loved their father and he loved them.

H.

My profoundest faux pas is me not even realizing I've made one!

No, no. She wanted to show off how attractive her surroundings seem to believe she is. Probably. The only other explanation would be that she is a really bad driver and gets honked at a lot, but believes that it's not because of her driving but because of her hair colour .... but that would make her incredibly stupid and is probably overthinking it.

Also, one doesn't have to be attractive to be honked at. Even I get honked at at times (I'm really tomboyish) ... and I usually end up jumping into the next wall or bushes because I think that the person lost control of their car and wants me to move out of their way.



Today or yesterday I made a comment for which afterwards I realized that the other person was asking for something completely different. But I don't even remember it, the embarrassment of realizing I did something stupid and the embarrassment of simply being there in my new school all blurs together.


Irulan, I don't know how it's in Poland. Is there anything shameful about being sick in your country? Are handicapped persons often hidden away? Do people not talk about having a handicapped relative? If that's the way, maybe it is seen as shameful in your culture to be sick, and people would rather not talk about it.
Here in Germany ... it is okay to talk about things like a common cold, but it's rather tabu to talk about serious illness, mental illness, handicaps and STDs. I think, at least.
I am hypothyreoid and it seems that I have strong symptoms including depression caused by it even though my level of TSH is still sub-clinical.

I suspect I have a history of commiting faux pas which nobody bothered to tell me about. It was far more fun to gloat over me in private, I suppose.

I took my little Autie to the pool recently and forgot my swimming trunks. So I borrowed some from the pool and they gave me these white board shorts, so I get back to the changing room and them seem to be much smaller than when I looked at them they seem to be for about a fourteen year old boy, so I'm already naked and my little Autie is moaning and jumping up and down and flapping his arms so I try them on and well if I breathe in I can just do the button so I think good enough, but when I get in the pool I figure out they are not really swimming trunks more basketball shorts, and they are now mostly see-through and since they are so tight on my butt, well..meh..I just stayed in the water as much as possible.

My last 1 was this morning

My last one was this morning when I did not introduce myself to another guest in the house, therefore again giving the impression that Scottish people are impolite. I keep forgetting....every time.