Unfortunate/Badly Timed Realisations
As in...a commonly used phrase / word / joke etc that, for some odd reason, you have just heard the wrong way and spent your entire life with a firm grasp on the wrong end of the stick...then, in the most embarrassing moment possible, you decide to pipe up with this little gem only to be greeted with a stony silence follwed by much laughter and derision...allow me to offer an example:

I was, by some fluke, actually succeeding in coming across as relatively intelligent and witty in a conversation with a girl I *really* fancied...everything was going swimmingly she was laughing at all my terrible jokes and happily listening to all my wise waffle...then, for a reason I forget, the phrase "hoist by their own petards" came up and she said "y'know i've always wondered what a petard is?" to which I respond "ah that's easy, they're those things like aprons that people wear"...silence...she says "don't you mean tabards?"...*sigh*...bugger.
( The Reverend Lord Lizard, Tue 23 Nov 2004, 17:43, Reply)