Put your foot in it

Suggest a Correction

Meaning

Say or do something tactless by mistake and thereby embarrass or upset someone. This is chiefly the British form; North American English usually says 'put your foot in your mouth,' especially for a verbal blunder.

Origin

The modern 'put one's foot in it' is documented in George Brewer's 1796 play Bannian Day as a way of describing a mistake. The more explicit 'put one's foot in one's mouth' appears in American print in 1879 and became the usual North American verbal form. Older British sayings blamed spoiled food on a bishop who had 'put his foot in the pot,' but etymologists have not established a simple, direct line from that 16th-century tradition to the modern social-blunder idiom. The exact origin therefore remains uncertain; the familiar image of stepping where one should not is an explanation, not a proven event.

Research Sources

  1. foot Oxford University Press
  2. Putting one's foot into it Oxford University Press Blog
  3. Where Does the Expression 'Put Your Foot in Your Mouth' Come From? Mental Floss

Variants

  • Put one's foot in it
  • Put your foot in your mouth
  • Foot in mouth
  • Put one's foot in one's mouth
  • Stick your foot in your mouth

Usage Examples

  • I put my foot in it by asking about the surprise party while the guest of honour was listening.
  • He put his foot in his mouth when he congratulated Mira on a promotion she had not received.
  • The presenter realised she had put her foot in it and corrected the mistaken introduction at once.

Keep Exploring

Browse all phrases