slip of the lip

1. Also,. An inadvertent mistake in speaking (or writing), as in It was just a slip of the lip that made me say the wrong name, or She didn't mean it; it was a slip of the tongue, or He intended to write “the honorable” but a slip of the pen turned it into “reverend.” The usage with pen dates from the mid-1600s; the others are a century or so younger.

Example Sentences

"You can't afford to let your concentration slip for even a moment when there's a camera pointed at you … and it doesn't take more than a minor slip of the lip to bring on the crows."

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While he was waiting for someone to answer the bell, he read the faded sticker on the crystal of the door, “A slip of the lip can sink a ship.”

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Makor Rishon deputy editor, Uri Elitzur, deemed Bennett's remarks untrue - "an unpleasant slip of the lip" - and said his newspaper would come out against any settlement evacuations.

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So did they think the stumble was because of the ill-fated “47 percent” slip of the lip, or the hasty effort to gain a political edge after the death of an American ambassador in Libya, or more problematically, a campaign that can’t seem to stop pratfalling no matter what the news?

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The latest slip of the lip occurred during his Sarajevo visit.

Read more on Time Magazine Archive