Idiom
Egg on your face
If you have egg on your face, you look foolish or embarrassed because something you said or did turned out to be wrong.
How people use it
People use it after a public mistake, especially when someone was confident or boastful: "The company ended up with egg on its face after the launch failed." Common forms are have egg on your face and be left with egg on your face. It works for people and organizations alike. The embarrassment usually comes from being proved wrong, not from clumsiness. The tone is informal.
Also said: left with egg on your face.
Examples
- After predicting a big win, the sports reporter had egg on his face when the team lost by twenty.
- The museum was left with egg on its face when its famous painting turned out to be a copy.
- I'll have egg on my face if I tell everyone the party is Friday and it's really Saturday.
Where it comes from
No one knows for sure. The phrase appears in American English around the middle of the 1900s. One theory points to audiences throwing eggs at bad performers; another to someone eating messily without noticing the food on their face. Neither idea is proven.
Check yourself
1. If someone has egg on their face, how do they feel?
Answer: Embarrassed after being proved wrong. Egg on your face means looking foolish because of a mistake.
2. Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Answer: The coach had egg on his face after promising a win and losing badly.. Promising a win and then losing leaves someone embarrassed, which fits the idiom.
Similar idioms
Word game fan? See every word hiding in EGG.