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January 19, 2005
What is a faux pas?
The boys in the Epperson family all acquired fine educations except for Edward.
They made him go to school, but most of the time he just ignored what was said there. Yet there were rare moments when he could display a bit of curiosity.
One day Edward was sitting at home looking at a magazine, and he said to his brilliant older brother, Hud, he said, "Hud, what does fox pass mean?"
Brother Hud gave the question some deep consideration and then said, "You must mean _faux_pas_."
"The way it's spelled," said dumb Ed, "it's fox pass."
Hud took a look at the way it was spelled and then said, "It's a French phrase -- it means a social blunder.
Remember last Sunday when the Bishop came for dinner? Mother took him out in the garden and they were looking over the roses when the Bishop got stuck on the thumb by a thorn. It was bleeding quite a bit so Mother brought him in the house. They went into the bathroom together and stayed quite a while, and when they came out we all went to the dinner table. Remember all that, Ed?"
"Yeh."
[Continued but possibly offensive....]
"Now," Hud continued, "you recall that I was just getting to pass the gravy when Mother said, 'Bishop, does your prick still throb?' The gravy bowl flew out of my hands and hit the table, and the gravy splattered all over everyone. And just at that point you, Brother Edward, you hollered, 'Sheee-itt!' You remember that?"
"Yeh."
"Well, when you hollered 'Sheee-itt!' that was a _faux_pas_."
Posted by Peskie at January 19, 2005 12:00 PM
