#Making a faux pas full

Carter was a former Navy man, and it turns out he was a CS Forester fan, and the look on his face of total bewilderment as his audience combusts in mirth was a memorable moment in politics. Carter asked the audience to join him in an ovation to Vice President Hubert Horatio Hornblower.Д¬hristopher Buckley:В Mr. I guess one of my favorite large-scale Freudian slips occurred at the 1980 Democratic Convention.Д¬hristopher Buckley: President Jimmy Carter was trying desperately to make nice with the Democratic establishment, and he was lavishing praise on former Vice President, Hubert Horatio Humphrey. That's when the id climbs up the esophagus, grabs hold of the uvula, and swings out your mouth, causing faces all around to turn red, mostly yours. The dictionary defines it as an unintentional remark causing embarrassment to the speaker.Д¬hristopher Buckley:В One Washington pundit, Michael Kinsley, memorably defined a gaffe as 'when a politician accidentally says the truth,' so it's really quite rare in Washington, but during the good old days of Watergate, The White House Press Secretary was constantly having to say, 'The president misspoke himself.' This struck me as a terribly awkward coinage because it made it sound as though the president had just wet himself, but then I suppose one way or the other, he had.ДЄndrew Roberts:В It's not the same as a Freudian slip, is it?Д¬hristopher Buckley:В Ah, the eponymous Freudian slip. It's from the French word for boat hook, appropriately enough. It's not a term Americans use very much, which seems to me a shame because saying, 'Oh dear, I've made a terrible faux pas' sounds rather more elegant than, 'Man, did I just step in it!' So, its cousin term, gaffe, is also a French coinage. The friend replied, 'You were a pallbearer at her funeral three years ago, Bill.' That's a major league of, oops.ДЄndrew Roberts:В Tell me as, as the historian of the faux pas, where does the phrase originate?Д¬hristopher Buckley:В Well, as I imagine our audience already knows, it's French. He asked a friend of his how his wife was. My late beloved dad was always one upping me, but in this case, I was very happy to be one upped. Buckley, he beat you in that department, didn't he?Д¬hristopher Buckley:В Oh, he did, indeed. His face sort of went opaque, and he said, 'She died three years ago.' Where do you go from there? I mean, hurriedly to the nearest exit so you can bash your head against a wall in privacy.ДЄndrew Roberts:В That's a good one, but your father, William F. He was in Richard Nixon's cabinet, and I said to him, 'Oh, how's Carol?', Referring to his wife. My scholarly, indeed historical, interest in faux pas was prompted by a very embarrassing moment some years ago.Д¬hristopher Buckley:В I ran into a friend of the family, very distinguished fellow. Christopher, how did you first begin your scholarly interest in the subject?Д¬hristopher Buckley: Well, I have to start by saying, having a historian of the caliber of Andrew Roberts calling me a historian is about as good as it gets, so I think I'm going to retire right after this podcast. The faux pas has had a long and interesting history, and its foremost historian is the author and broadcaster, Christopher Buckley. The title derives from Sir Winston Churchill's reply to a young American who asked him for some life advice as Churchill was walking through Westminster Hall on the day of the Queen's coronation in 1953.ДЄndrew Roberts:В 'Study history, study history,' Churchill said, 'for therein lies all the secrets of statecraft.' I've been an historian for 30 years and have written or edited 18 books, and in this podcast series, I'll be talking to prominent people about the role that history has played in their careers and their decision making and also to fellow historians about how the past influenced the people they've written about.ДЄndrew Roberts:В In the course of it, I hope to eke out some of the timeless secrets of statecraft.

#Making a faux pas full

To view the full transcript of this episode, read below:ДЄndrew Roberts: Ladies and gentlemen, hello, I'm Andrew Roberts, the Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and I'd like to welcome you to my new podcast, Secrets of Statecraft.

This episode is brimming with witty repartee and hilarious anecdotes featuring several historically significant figures, and not one faux pas (that we know about).

In this episode of Secrets of Statecraft,В actualВ historian Andrew Roberts talks to humorist and self-appointed вЂњhistorianвЂќ Christopher Buckley about the faux pas and its celebrated and checkered past.