 English Phrases for Embarrassing Situations from espressoenglish.net If you're embarrassed, it can be almost impossible to think of the right thing to say, especially in English. Today, you'll learn useful phrases for responding to embarrassing situations. Learn these, and you'll never have to worry about saying the wrong thing during an awkward moment. If you'd like to learn more English for daily life, check out my everyday English speaking courses. You can click on the link in the upper right corner of the video or in the video description for more information. Our first embarrassing situation is if you make a bodily noise. For example, if you burp, fart, cough, or sneeze, you should say, excuse me. When someone else does this and says excuse me, no response is necessary. The most polite thing is simply to pretend it didn't happen and continue the conversation. The only exception is when someone else sneezes. It's polite to say bless you, or God bless you, and then the person who sneezed would reply with thanks. What about if you drop, spill, or break something? Well, the common exclamation used for minor accidents is oops or whoops. You can also say I'm so clumsy. This means you tend to be physically uncoordinated. Another possible phrase is I can't believe I did that. If there's a mess that needs to be cleaned up, or if you spilled something on someone else, you can say let me get some napkins or paper towels. If you caused damage to or broke something that belongs to someone else, you can say I'm so sorry and perhaps later offer to pay for it to be fixed or replaced. I'd like to pay for it to be repaired or replaced. It's quite embarrassing if you forget someone's name. If it's someone you've very recently been introduced to, you can say sorry, what was your name again? If it's someone you've known for a longer time, or you've spoken with two or three times, you can say I'm so sorry but I've forgotten your name, or this is so embarrassing but I can't seem to remember your name. When the other person tells you their name, say thanks. If you want, you can add, I don't know where my brain is, if you're having an unfocused day or moment. Or, I'm terrible with names, if you tend to forget people's names in general. Then, continue the conversation by saying anyway and moving on by asking a question or making a comment. If you forget some other information that you really should know, for example in a meeting at work where you just can't think of the information, you can say sorry, I'm drawing a blank here. This means that you normally know the information but you just can't think of it at the moment. One option is to ask for help. You could ask a co-worker or friend who might know the information. Could you help me out? You could also say let me check my notes or let me get back to you on that. If you will find the information and deliver it later. If you make any other embarrassing mistake, the phrase I can't believe I did that is a good general one for reacting to something you did that embarrassed yourself. You could also say I don't know what I was thinking if you said or did something silly or made a thoughtless mistake. If you say something wrong, you can correct it by saying what I meant to say was and then say the correct thing. Another way to react to a mistake or accident is by saying today is not my day, meaning that things in general are going badly for you today. Have you ever been in a situation where you had no idea what to say in English? Leave a comment describing the situation and I'll try to give you a phrase or two to respond. I also created two courses to help you learn phrases for any situation. They're my everyday English speaking courses. The lessons are based on conversations and they're a simple, fun and effective way to learn new expressions and improve your ability to speak in English. Again, you can click on the link in the video or in the video description for more information and to sign up. These are my most popular courses and I hope to see you inside.