What Does “foot-in-mouth disease” mean?
Definition:
If you have foot-in-mouth disease, you have the tendency to say the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Origin
The expression alludes to two other expressions:
1. “The foot-and-mouth disease” is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects livestock.
2. “To put one’s foot in one’s mouth” refers to verbal blunder.
While the origin of the above expressions goes back to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, the phrase “have foot-in-mouth-disease” is newer, dating from the mid-twentieth century.
The phrase is used to refer to a person who unintentionally states things that are silly, tactless, or hurtful.
Example(s)
He has the foot-in-mouth disease, particularly when he’s asked to speak on public occasions.
She has foot-in-mouth disease once again.
He’d better shut up his mouth. He has foot-in-mouth disease whenever he speaks.
