a mistake that a person makes in public or in a social situation, especially something embarrassing synonym faux pas失礼;失态;失言 a social gaffe 社交失态 He made some real gaffes early in his career. 他在职业生涯早期曾数次严重失言。 Most people will politely look the other way if you commit some social gaffe. 如果你在社交场合失态,大多数人会礼貌地转开目光。
Word Originearly 20th cent.: from French, literally ‘boathook’ (from Provençal gaf ‘hook’), used colloquially to mean ‘blunder’.