A FAUX PAS
From time to time, we all make a faux pas. For those of you who don’t know the definition, it is a French word the literal translation of which is “mistake”. In our society, however, it has taken on an aura of a social misstep resulting in a high degree of public embarrassment and humiliation.
I often say that humiliation is my friend as I faux pas my way through life. My family just rolls their eyes. One of my more blatant faux pas occurred when a church I once attended made a concerted effort to bring more minorities into its congregation. A minority family found its way into our lily white establishment, and I hoped to make a valiant effort in making this very lovely family feel comfortable. As a church dinner approached, I asked our then minister the last name of the new family. His reply: “Oh! You mean the Buppies”. At the church dinner, I proceeded to introduce the family as the “Buppies”. I came to find out that it was a slang word for a black yuppie, a term with which I was unfamiliar. Suffice it to say, they never returned to the church notwithstanding my honest and sincere efforts to apologize to them. A politically incorrect faux pas.
I just found out recently that drinking shots during the intermission of my choir’s choral concert is a faux pas, especially when the priest of the church that is hosting the affair is standing there watching the tenor section down a bottle of Bourbon straight during the break between the first and second act. I thought we sounded better during the second act. Nonetheless, a performance faux pas.
Telling ethnic jokes under one’s breath at a country club is a faux pas when you are telling the joke to a bunch of people who have difficulty in hearing. They began to ask each other what I said, and by the time they were done, you could have heard the ethnic slur repeated among them in Niagara Falls. To this day, some of them still don’t know what I was saying. But everyone else in the place did….a conversational faux pas.
Another thing that would be considered a faux pas is swearing in the middle of a choral anthem in church when one misses the note(s), and the choir is miked, and you throw your music down simultaneously in rampant disgust with your less than stellar musical acumen. A musical faux pas coupled with a religious faux pas. The double whammy.
I just did a faux pas this past weekend. We spent a great day with some very dear friends in Cleveland touring a museum, and then out for dinner. The weather was iffy. Drizzly and breezy, it was hard to tell if you were hot or you were cold. I decided to bring a sports jacket to throw over my plaid polo shirt. Unfortunately, the jacket also had a pronounced pattern in it, of a somewhat different color, which made for an interesting clothing statement. Our poor friends didn’t know what to make of it, and neither did my wife, who just looked at me and said: “What the hell were you thinking?” A fashion faux pas….which my wife also advised me will NEVER happen again. I have to stop at the men’s clothing store on the way home.
Nonetheless, I am thankful for all of the people who overlook my misguided actions or comments. And if any of you have been pronouncing the phrase “fox paws”, shame on your pronunciation “faux pas” (pr: f-oh pa).
I often say that humiliation is my friend as I faux pas my way through life. My family just rolls their eyes. One of my more blatant faux pas occurred when a church I once attended made a concerted effort to bring more minorities into its congregation. A minority family found its way into our lily white establishment, and I hoped to make a valiant effort in making this very lovely family feel comfortable. As a church dinner approached, I asked our then minister the last name of the new family. His reply: “Oh! You mean the Buppies”. At the church dinner, I proceeded to introduce the family as the “Buppies”. I came to find out that it was a slang word for a black yuppie, a term with which I was unfamiliar. Suffice it to say, they never returned to the church notwithstanding my honest and sincere efforts to apologize to them. A politically incorrect faux pas.
I just found out recently that drinking shots during the intermission of my choir’s choral concert is a faux pas, especially when the priest of the church that is hosting the affair is standing there watching the tenor section down a bottle of Bourbon straight during the break between the first and second act. I thought we sounded better during the second act. Nonetheless, a performance faux pas.
Telling ethnic jokes under one’s breath at a country club is a faux pas when you are telling the joke to a bunch of people who have difficulty in hearing. They began to ask each other what I said, and by the time they were done, you could have heard the ethnic slur repeated among them in Niagara Falls. To this day, some of them still don’t know what I was saying. But everyone else in the place did….a conversational faux pas.
Another thing that would be considered a faux pas is swearing in the middle of a choral anthem in church when one misses the note(s), and the choir is miked, and you throw your music down simultaneously in rampant disgust with your less than stellar musical acumen. A musical faux pas coupled with a religious faux pas. The double whammy.
I just did a faux pas this past weekend. We spent a great day with some very dear friends in Cleveland touring a museum, and then out for dinner. The weather was iffy. Drizzly and breezy, it was hard to tell if you were hot or you were cold. I decided to bring a sports jacket to throw over my plaid polo shirt. Unfortunately, the jacket also had a pronounced pattern in it, of a somewhat different color, which made for an interesting clothing statement. Our poor friends didn’t know what to make of it, and neither did my wife, who just looked at me and said: “What the hell were you thinking?” A fashion faux pas….which my wife also advised me will NEVER happen again. I have to stop at the men’s clothing store on the way home.
Nonetheless, I am thankful for all of the people who overlook my misguided actions or comments. And if any of you have been pronouncing the phrase “fox paws”, shame on your pronunciation “faux pas” (pr: f-oh pa).
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