/pʊt jɔː ˈfʊt ɪn ɪt/
English idiom, informal. To say or do something tactless that embarrasses you or upsets someone.
Draft Not yet checked by a native English speaker.
How do people use Put your foot in it
?
Informal and very common, especially in British English. The “your” changes with the person and the “it” never changes: “I really put my foot in it”, “she’s put her foot in it again”. It’s almost always about saying the wrong thing, like asking after someone’s ex or mentioning a surprise party to the guest of honour.
Also said stick your foot in it
Put your foot in it
in real sentences
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He really put his foot in it.
Tatoeba, sentence by sundown, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Ziri put his foot in it.
Tatoeba, sentence by Amastan, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Put your foot in it
come from?
English Wiktionary gives no date or source for this one. It does say the longer “put your foot in your mouth” is recorded from 1887 and grew out of this older phrase, so “put your foot in it” was around before then. What the “it” was is never stated. The obvious picture is stepping in something unpleasant, but that’s a reading of the words, not a documented origin.
Mistakes learners make with Put your foot in it
Mixing it up with “put your foot down”, which means the opposite kind of thing: being firm and refusing to allow something. “I put my foot down” is a parent saying no; “I put my foot in it” is the parent asking the wrong question at dinner.
Other English idioms like Put your foot in it
Spot a mistake in Put your foot in it
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.