Telling the slip from the gaffe

A Freudian slip, as a wise man once said, is when you say one thing and mean your mother. It8217;s a great gag, but it8217;s not quite true. Actually with a Freudian slip you say exactly what you mean. You just don8217;t mean to say it. Consider Gordon Brown, on Wednesday, telling the House of Commons that he had 8220;saved the world8221;. If he hadn8217;t meant it, it would merely have been a gaffe. But he did mean it. He just didn8217;t mean to say it. It8217;s an entirely different thing. A gaffe is like going for a walk with your girlfriend, and falling over. A slip is like going for a walk with your girlfriend, and falling over because you have just seen your wife. True slips are rare. John Prescott, that great master of gaffes, hardly ever slipped at all. When Prescott said 8220;the green belt is a Labour achievement and we mean to build on it8221;, it sounded like a slip, but it was actually a gaffe. You need quite a lot going on behind the eyes to say something you mean that you don8217;t mean to say. Mr Prescott rarely meant anything, even when he wanted to.

By contrast, when Huw Edwards referred to 8220;Northern Wreck8221; on the BBC News, that was a slip8230; My favourite is from George Bush Sr. You might find it on YouTube. He8217;s talking about working with Ronald Reagan, and he says: 8220;I8217;m proud to have been his partner.8221; Then the brow furrows. You can see he knows he8217;s said something that may cause a snigger. He grows flustered. It gets worse. He tries to say 8220;we8217;ve had some setbacks8221; but he actually says 8220;we8217;ve had some sex8221;. He opens his mouth, and you can see right through into his brain.

Poor Gordon Brown. He8217;s probably had the phrase rattling around in his head for weeks. Don8217;t say 8220;save the world8221;! Don8217;t say 8220;save the world8221;! Bang. Aaargh. Now, before long, he8217;ll have to speak at some sort of climate-change bash, and he8217;ll be expected to say 8220;save the world8221; and he8217;ll end up saying 8220;save the banks8221;. And that won8217;t look good, either.

From a comment by Hugo Rifkind in 8216;The Times8217;, London