Tongue still smarting from that last trip? Join other foot-in-mouth disease sufferers in Slips of the Lip.

Slips of the Lip

I was reading a bedtime story to my kids about Clara Barton, the nurse who founded the American Red Cross. I felt tired, and instead of reading “she rode in a cart pulled by horses,” I read aloud, “she rode in a cart pulled by nurses.”
—Jeannie

I was an American teaching conversational English to corporate executives in Japan. During a discussion about World War II, one of my students turned to me and said, earnestly, “When our company was at war with your company…” I had to point out that he meant country.
—Stu

My six-year-old was eagerly learning about punctuation. But instead of adding an exclamation point to the end of his sentence, he insisted on adding “an explanation point.”
—Andy

I had garbled what I was trying to say to my sister-in-law, a speech therapist. I had intended to say, “Oh, you can figure out what I meant in your head.” But it came out, “Oh, you can figure out what I meant in my head.” “My speech therapy services don’t extend that far,” she said dryly.
—Kelly

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