foot-in-mouth disease
Habitual verbal blunders
Foot-in-mouth disease is a humorous term for the tendency to say embarrassing, tactless, or inappropriate things, especially at the worst possible moment.
The phrase plays on foot-and-mouth disease, the livestock ailment, while evoking the idiom "put your foot in your mouth." Someone with chronic foot-in-mouth disease habitually blurts out comments that offend or mortify: He's got a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease—he told the boss her presentation was boring.
- Freudian slipUnconsciously revealing misstatement
- gaffeClumsy social error
- faux pasSocial misstep or indiscretion
- malapropismSound-alike word confusion
- tactlessnessAbsence of social sensitivity
social gaffe · speaking out of turn · blooper · slip of the tongue · putting one's foot in it · embarrassment · awkward moment · impulsivity · misstatement · overconfidence · inattentiveness · misunderstanding · awkwardness · situational irony · politeness · appropriateness · social anxiety · comic relief
foot-in-mouth diseasesilver tongue
Natural persuasive ability
tact · diplomacy · gift of gab · way with words · social grace
foot-in-mouth diseasetact
Sensitivity in speech
diplomacy · tactfulness · discretion · delicacy · finesse
foot-in-mouth diseaseeloquence
Persuasive verbal grace
articulateness · suavity · smoothness · polish · glibness
mouth, disease, footed, footing, footless, mouthed, mouthing, mouths, diseased