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Jul 31, 2012
This week's theme
Words that have the plural spelled the same but pronounced differently

This week's words
corps
faux pas
rendezvous
pince-nez
precis

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

faux pas

PRONUNCIATION:
(fo PAH)
plural faux pas (fo PAHZ)

MEANING:
noun: A blunder, especially a social mistake.

ETYMOLOGY:
From French, literally, false step. Earliest documented use: 1676.

USAGE:
"[Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, committed] the ultimate classroom faux pas when he addressed [the teacher] Miss Hollender by her first name, Sophie, in front of students."
Fiona Hamilton; Boris Johnson Teaches Latin; The Times (London, UK); May 27, 2010.

See more usage examples of faux pas in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
In nothing does man, with his grand notions of heaven and charity, show forth his innate, low-bred, wild animalism more clearly than in his treatment of his brother beasts. From the shepherd with his lambs to the red-handed hunter, it is the same; no recognition of rights -- only murder in one form or another. -John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer (1838-1914)

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