to put one's foot in one's mouth

今天我們要給大家介紹兩個由 foot 這個字組成的習慣用語。 Foot 在中文里就是“腳”的意思。由 foot 這個字形成的俗語在英文里也不少，它們的意思有的是正面的，例如：to put one's best foot forward。這是指盡量給人一個好的印象。那末，有的人一開始就給人一個壞印象是怎么說的呢？ You should say: to get off on the wrong foot。 To get off on the wrong foot，這是指某人一開始就沒給人一個好印象，或一開始由于某種行為而把事情弄糟了。下面這句話里說的這個人就是一個例子：

例句-1: "When Joe went to his new job, he got off on the wrong foot -- on the first morning he upset his new boss by arriving at the store two hours late. And right now he's out looking for a job again."

這個人說：“喬找到了一份新的工作,可是他剛開始到那家店里去上班時就給人一個壞印象。第一天上班他就晚到兩個小時，讓他的老板好不高興。現在他又在找工作了?！?

To get off on the wrong foot 這個俗語實際上可以適用于任何情況。下面一個例子是一個男學生在說他交女朋友的情況：

例句-2: "I finally got a date with that new girl in class but I sure got off on the wrong foot with her: I had car trouble and got to her place almost two hours late."

他說：“那天我終于和班上新來的那個女同學約好了出去玩?？墒牵斕煳业能嚦隽藛栴}，晚了兩個小時才去接她，所以我一開頭就把事弄糟了。”

有意無意做錯事、說錯話的情況是很經常的。下面我們要講的一個俗語就是無意中說錯了話而傷害了別人，或者叫自己很不好意思。這個俗語就是：to put your foot in your mouth。

我們來舉個例子看看什么樣的情況才 to put your foot in your mouth：

例句-3: "When Sally told that silly joke about the sailor with one leg she really put her foot in her mouth. She didn't know the man across the dinner table had a brother at home in a wheelchair."

這句話翻成中文就是：“沙莉吃晚飯時說了一個笑話，拿一個只有一條腿的水手開玩笑。她可不知道坐在飯桌對面那個人的哥哥就是個殘廢，行動都得靠輪椅?！?

Sally如果事后了解情況的話,她肯定會說: "Well, I certainly have put my foot in my mouth."

下面我們再來舉一個例子:

例句-4: "I certainly put my foot in my mouth at the party last night when I asked Mister Brown to say hello to his wife for me. Somehow I'd forgotten that his wife died six months ago."

這人說：“我昨晚在那個聚會上無意中說錯了話。我讓布朗先生替我向他的太太問好。不知怎么回事，我忘了他太太已經在半年前去世了。”

今天我們給大家介紹了兩個由 foot 這個字組成的習慣用語。第一個是 to get off on the wrong foot。 To get off on the wrong foot 是指一個人在做某件事的時候一開始就給人一個壞印象，或者一開始就把事弄糟了。我們今天介紹的第二個俗語就是 to put one's foot in one's mouth。這是指無意中說錯了話而傷害了別人。