English : Faux Pas





What is the meaning of Faux Pas? How is the word pronounced?

First, let's deal with the pronunciation. The faux sounds like the word foe, and the a in the second word is pronounced like the a in bath, path and calf. The final s is silent. The main stress is usually on pas. A faux pas is an embarrassing mistake that one makes in a social context.

Here are a few examples.

• It was Mohan's first party as Ambassador; he was afraid of committing a faux pas.

• Our Chairman is famous for his faux pas.

• He went through the ceremony without making any faux pas.

• By the way, the plural of faux pas is faux pas.




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COURTESY : The Hindu (The National News-Paper) - India


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