I hope others out there are brave enough to share any embarrassing faux pas, especially if related to college admissions. I’ll go first. When my kids were in HS a friend and I were talking about our kids. I proudly noted that neither of my kids had any B’s on their transcripts and he commented that that was true for his daughter too, but that she wasn’t giving up hope. He was only half joking; she had a 2.2 GPA.
Not related to college admissions, and it (thankfully) didn’t come out of my mouth, but I will never forget:
We were at church for a church meeting. The church was a hub for lots of community activities/meetings. Scouts, neighborhood group, etc. So when a large woman walked by, looking into various rooms for her meeting, my friend helpfully asks: “Are you here for the Overeaters Anonymous Meeting? It’s in Room ___.” To which the woman replied, “No, I am here for the Gardening Club Meeting.”
My friend was mortified.
I know a loved one put his foot in his mouth when he asked a friend when she was expecting—she wasn’t! He never made that mistake again.
Oh I think half of my life goes on this thread but when we were first visiting colleges my D wasn’t sure if she would apply to BFA or BA programs. I was chatting with a very nice mom whose daughter was doing the admitted student tour at BoCo and I said “We’re trying to narrow down the list because I don’t want her having to audition at a dozen schools, that would be ridiculous!” And the mom kindly informed me her daughter had auditioned at 15.
I still remember with utmost clarity the first time I really put my foot in my mouth. I was 13 and had moved to a new Jr. High school. I had been there about a semester, it was a huge school. I was having gym class one day sitting next to this one gal. I made a comment to her how I didn’t like this one girl who had just stood up, I thought she was snotty. She looked at me and said very defensively, “that’s my sister”. I was just speechless. Seriously, horrified and speechless. It was her fraternal twin, didn’t look a thing alike. Needless to say, we never hung around each other.
Years later, the snotty sister and I would run into each other every 5 or 6 years and strike up great conversations. We were also on the class reunion committee last year together and had a great time. I often wonder if they even remember.
My mother was at work - 1990. A guy she worked with was telling her his niece went to the prom that weekend. A bunch of kids were at his sisters house. He proceeded to tell my mom about a pretty white girl whose date was a young black man. “I’m not racist” he insisted, but why would she do that? Why stir things up? Plenty of quality white boys around!
Well, my mom quickly figured out the girl was me and let him know it. She said he was mortified. It’s a small world people!
Four decades ago, at my first physical therapist job in a multilevel care retirement center, I had an elderly patient who’d had a stroke. I’d known him from before the stroke-- he was a true gentleman, the soul of politeness-- but unfortunately with the stroke he underwent a personality change. He frequently made suggestive remarks to the nurses and aides. We all knew the stroke was to blame, and overlooked it.
One day as he was wheeled into the PT department, I greeted him loudly, but made an unfortunate Freudian slip. I combined the first syllable of his last name with the last syllable of his first name.
It came out: “Hi, Horney!”
I wanted to die!
He was thankfully oblivious, but I heard my (male) boss, halfway down the PT gym, snickering.
OMG. I have so many examples of this, it’s kind of depressing. LOL I never seem to learn…
Having moved from a big city to a small town, I called a local plumber to fix a kitchen sink problem. When I arrived home after work, the sink pipes were all taken apart and all over the kitchen floor. He left a note: “Couldn’t finish. Need parts. Sorry.” What does he mean, I wondered? Is he giving up? Is he bringing the needed parts? When did he plan to return? I couldn’t reach him by phone. Later that evening, a neighbor stopped by with some of my mail that was mistakenly delivered to her. She asked how things were going, and heard my rant about the “idiot plumber I called… I mean, who does things like this?” etc. etc. She smiled and said "Oh, sweetie, would you like me to talk to him? " “You know him? You know how to reach him?” I asked. “Yes, dear. He’s my husband.”
Many years later, even though I KNOW how connected everyone is in these small villages, I continue to put my foot in my mouth. Like, all the time… 
I have too many examples. The worst was I accidentally thought I was texting my husband and it went to a friend instead. I still am so embarrassed and now double and triple check the recipients of both texts and emails ; )
I don’t think I did anything associated with college stuff…I don’t think!
Twice, I have asked someone when they’re due only to be told they’re not pregnant. I never, never, never ask someone that question now – even if they look like they’re 10 months along!!
Great thread. Unfortunately I have an example from last fall, when I took my college-student DD and her 2 roommates out to dinner.
DD goes by her middle name. For the sake of this post, DD’s name is Mary Jane Smith. One of her roommate’s first name is Mary and the other’s is Jane. (Yes, what are the chances of that?!). Anyway, at dinner we were talking about first names and one of the roommates asked why my husband named our D Mary Jane (instead of Jane Mary) since we call her Jane. Without thinking about it, I replied that we did it because Jane Mary sounded weird to us/Mary Jane sounded better, and as much as we loved both names, we liked “Jane” better than “Mary.”
Of course it was Mary who had asked the question so I basically flat out accidentally told her that I didn’t like her name as much as the other roommate’s name. I still feel terrible about it.
Talking with long time friends and saying (about my state flagship alma mater) “well, back when I went there, it wasn’t nearly as hard to get into as now. I think you basically just had to have a checkbook and a pulse.” Awkward silence before a friend since junior high said, “Really? Well, I didn’t get in.”
Oops.
I’ve done that too many times to count. At least it hasn’t ever been anything too bad.
My Dad accidentally texted my daughter instead of his “lady friend”:
“Hi, sweetheart, I’m waiting for you down at the pond. (accompanied by many emoji hearts).” My D was having a conniption over it, lol.
This past November DH forwarded me a GIF a friend had sent him at Thanksgiving of a turkey with boobs that were jiggling. I would have rolled my eyes and not dignified it with a response. But he accidentally sent it to me and BOTH daughters. Oldest D HATES that kind of thing and said “WHY would you think this is appropriate???” But D2’s response was better:
“Stop traumatizing your daughters, sicko!”
@Nrdsb4 at least your dad didn’t include the eggplant emoji in his text to his lady friend …
My daughter basically did it for me. When the girls were little, they really wanted the big blowup Christmas decorations for our yard. I saw them as a gigantic hassle, so gave them some reasons why I didn’t want to get them. The next morning, as we waited for the bus with one of the neighbors who had them, my D pointed to the her decorations and said, “My mom says those things are tacky.”
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
I still feel terrible about this one -
We were at a wedding, and talking to the groom’s grown daughter about getting pregnant. I’d always associated not being pregnant with drinking (as in when someone stops drinking and you know they are trying, it’s a good guess they are pregnant). I went on about how happy her dad would be when he had another grandchild, etc. She “smiled and nodded” and made a few nice comments. Turns out she has just suffered a terrible miscarriage, but she never told me that.
I learned the don’t ask if you are pregnant way back in my 20s, by hearing stories from others, but I thought I was on “safe ground.”
Re: #10
You were not smoking anything or eating special brownies when you made that example?
Lol, I was not!
This wasn’t me, but close enough - my dad!
Back in the early 1970s, my mom had a friend (from Denmark) and her 6m baby for an afternoon visit. My dad came home from work early that day and my mom introduced him to her friend and the baby; my dad walked over to the baby and was admiring him and playing with him. A short time passed and my dad looked up and asked mom’s friend if Denmark was having an exceptionally hot summer. Mom’s friend said she didn’t know and asked my dad why he had asked - he said he had noticed the baby had such a nice suntan, he assumed Denmark was having a heatwave. My mom was mortified - her friend was married to a man from Sri Lanka!
Bless my dad, he was absolutely genuine in his enquiry, LOL!