What is the ultimate 'faux pas' ?

Answer 1

The Ultimate Faux Pas

This had most of the state of Michigan laughing for 2 days and a very embarrassed female news anchor who will, in the future, likely think before she speaks. What happens when you predict snow but don't get any....True story...we had a female news anchor who, the day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn't, turned to the weatherman and asked "So Bob, where's that 8 inches you promised me last night?" Not only did HE have to leave the set, but half the crew did too they were laughing so hard!

Answer 2

I have three contenders all real ones - first was a TV program reviewing the morning's newspapers the day after David Seamen (England soccer team's goalkeeper) had made a mistake causing England's 2002 World cup hopefuls to crash out. Female anchor says without a smile on her face and holding up the papers to the camera: "And as you might expect there's Seamen (semen) all over the back pages!" No-one in the newsroom tittered- it was either a well rehearsed joke - or no-one noticed the pun.

Then their was a little 11 year old kids TV presenter who was certain the pronunciation of the afternoons "grand prix" was not "gran pree". She would have got away with it but the studio staff just cracked up when she insisted on her pronunciation, then realised what she said.

However the best faux-pas must be a guy cheating on his fairly new girlfriend with a one night stand - then finding later at a family get together that it was actually her (divorced and swinging) mother. This is not just a joke - it happened to a friend of mine. Serves him right I am tempted to say.

Answer 3

My personal one was having lunch with my father and two of his friends at a local restutant. I was sitting beside my father and having rice when all of a sudden, without any warning whatsoever I sneezed. I shot out grains of rice like a machine gun. The booth had a glass window behind us and after they went to the washroom to clean up I could see where they had been by the outline of rice.

I really hope I never have a faux pas that can top this one.

Answer 4

I was part of a group of foreign exchange students in France. Very often english and french words have the same meaning. For example the following words have the same meaning in each language: passion, content, chocolate. However, some words, although spelled the same have different meanings. In English, the word preservative means something that keeps food from spoiling. In French, the word preservative means a condom! To be honest - condom was not a word on my vocab list at school - so I had no idea about this until the following incident happened.

We were all in host families. One of the girls was eating diner with her French host family. The mother asked her if she prefered American or French bread better and why. Not knowing what preservative meant in French, she proceded to tell her host family that she prefered French bread because American bread had too many preservatives in it! (Preservative means condom in French). They all started laughing at her and she had no idea why! She told us all the story at class the next day - and how we all laughed!

FYI - I have been back to the states and told this story a few times. My latino friends have told me that "preservativo" means condom in Spanish. So if any of you are going to a Spanish speaking country you now know just that little bit more...

Answer 5

Anyone saying to me "Havent you got tiny hands" I know I've got tiny hands, it's faux pas to mention anyone's physical features in such a way!

Answer 6

Faux pas
(French for false step) is a violation of accepted, although unwritten, social rules. Faux pas vary widely from culture to culture and what is considered good manners in one culture can be considered a faux pas in another. For example, in English-speaking Western countries it is usually considered a nice gesture to bring a bottle of wine when coming to someone's house for dinner. In France, however, this is considered insulting as it suggests the hosts are unable to provide their own good wine. However, bringing flowers to the hostess is rarely a faux pas, although one sometimes needs to be careful what kind of flowers to bring.

Origin of term
The term comes from French and literally means "false step". However, it is a formal rather than everyday expression in French and does not generally have the figurative meaning used in English. It is occasionally employed to describe a physical loss of balance or general mistakes (for instance: mes faux pas dans la vie, the mistakes I made in my life). If one uses faux pas with the English meaning in France, people might think it was a slight grammatical mistake with faut pas, the colloquial pronunciation of il ne faut pas, meaning must not in English. For faux pas with the English meaning, the French would usually say gaffe or erreur.


Examples
For a more broad list, see List of faux pas.

African regions: A right-handed handshake.

Arab countries; Indian Subcontinent; Middle East ;East Africa; South-East Asia: Displaying the soles of the feet or touching somebody with shoes. A left-handed handshake or passing food at the table with a the left hand.

China and Taiwan: Giving someone a timepiece as a gift. See List of faux pas for further explanation.

Central Europe: Shaking hands while wearing gloves (this does not apply to women).

France: Asking for cheese after taking dessert. Asking an individual their job or name directly. Offering someone a gift of chrysanthemums on an occasion other than a funeral. (as chrysanthemums are generally associated with death in France)

Germany: Using the pronoun "du" (you), instead of "Sie" (formal you) when talking to an elder or a stranger.

India: Eating or shaking hands with the left hand.

Japan: When greeting or thanking another person, not bowing lower than the other person when the other person is older or has a higher social status.

Middle East: Addressing an elder or person higher in social status with his/her bare name. Adjectives like uncle/aunt, (elder) brother/sister or formally Mr./Mrs. are expected to be used.

Nordic countries, Netherlands and Switzerland: Being late. These countries are relatively more punctual, with meetings, events, and public transport usually happening, or expected to be, on time.

Romania; Russia; Slovakia; Czech Republic; Hungary; Serbia; Poland; Bulgaria; Ukraine: Giving somebody an even number of flowers. This should only be done in funerals.

South America, Spain and other Spanish speaking countries : Neglecting to greet someone at a social / family gathering. Any kind of large gathering of friends or family should be started by greeting every person present (oldest first if possible), and making sure to say goodbye upon leaving. This rule is more relaxed in a group of young people.

Thailand: Stepping over or standing on bills or coins—they all have the face of the King, who is highly revered. Also, touching a Thai person on their head--the head is considered a sacred part of the body.

United Kingdom: Signifying "two" of something by holding up two fingers with the back of the hand pointed towards the listener can be mistaken for an offensive gesture (similar to the finger). Holding up two fingers with the hand held the other way (palm of the hand towards the listener) is perfectly acceptable as it forms the letter V.

Answer 7

For me PERSONALLY?
OMG!
I was referring to how many people on here make faux pas and I spelled it FEAUX pas!

I didn't notice my mistake for days.

Luckily, I don't think anyone caught that but I'll never know for sure.

STUPID,STUPID STUPID , MOLLY!
GOD! Somebody help me! I couldn't believe it!

I wanted to go outside and bang my head against a BUS!

Answer 8

Lighting up a grit next to a family that has to sit in the smoke. Bad form Jeeves.

Answer 9

Farting loudly as you kneel in front of Queen Elizabeth in Buckingham Palace to be knighted

heavenlyhaggis

Answer 10

When a guy with a beard and mustache tries to pass himself
off as a woman.
When a woman with boobs tries to pass herself off as a man.