Mettre les pieds dans le plat - French Expression

Expression: Mettre les pieds dans le plat Pronunciation: [ meh treu lay pyay da(n) leu pla] Meaning: To mess up, to speak with excessive candor, to discuss something inappropriate Literal translation: To put ones feet in the dish Register: Informal Notes You cant help but notice the similarity between the French expression mettre les pieds dans le plat and the English to put ones foot in ones mouth, but they dont mean quite the same thing. The French expression means to bring up a delicate subject without any delicacy at all, or to discuss a topic that everyone else is avoiding. This is probably not embarrassing to the speaker, who just wants to talk about that subject (even if that means unintentionally embarrassing everyone else in the room). The English expression, however, definitely implies embarrassment on the part of the speaker, since it means that youve just committed a social blunder by saying just about anything you shouldnt have, possibly about something that is—was—a secret (such as the person youre talking to getting fired, or you knowing about someones extra-marital affair). This would probably be translated by something generic like faire une gaffe. Examples   Ã‚  Ã‚  Je parle trà ¨s franchement—je mets souvent les pieds dans le plat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  I speak very frankly—often too frankly.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Oh là   là  , tu as bien mis les pieds dans le plat, là  Ã‚  !   Ã‚  Ã‚  Oh dear, you messed up there!