"To Put Your Foot in Your Mouth"

Posted by ESC on May 11, 2003

In Reply to: Origin of "To Put Your Foot in Your Mouth" posted by emily ann on May 11, 2003

: does anybody know the origin of "to put your foot in your mouth"? none of the origin thesaurus type websites that I can find have it! thanks ;o)
: ~emily ann~

I found this phrase in a magazine, "Mental Floss," a good read.

PUT YOUR FOOT IN YOUR MOUTH - "Irish Parliamentarian Sir Boyle Roche was sort of the 18th century equivalent to (former U.S. Vice President) Dan Quayle. Roche once said, 'Half the lies our opponents tell about me are not true!' Someone with a much firmer grasp of the English language remarked of Roche, 'Every time he opens his mouth, he puts his foot in it,' and a phrase was born." From "Mental_Floss" magazine, Vol. 2, Issue 2 (Mental Floss, LLC, Mt. Morris, Il., 2003).