The English We Speak: Facepalm moment
Learning English Conversations
BBC
4.6 ⢠1.2K Ratings
đď¸ 3 February 2026
âąď¸ 3 minutes
đď¸ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Something embarrassing or frustrating could lead to a facepalm moment. Learn how to use this expression here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Thanks for listening to this episode. |
| 0:08.7 | Have you heard our new podcast beating speaking anxiety? |
| 0:13.0 | It's all about how to fight your fears of speaking English. |
| 0:17.1 | Maybe you're scared of making mistakes, worried you won't understand people? Or worried you can't be yourself when speaking English? Each episode tackles a different fear with experts to help you improve your speaking confidence. Search Learning English Conversations in your podcast app to find the latest episodes. |
| 0:38.5 | Hello and welcome to the English We Speak, where we explain expressions used by fluent English |
| 0:44.9 | speakers so that you can use them too. I'm Faye Faye and I'm Phil. |
| 0:49.9 | Phil, why are you wearing shorts? It's February. It's freezing outside. |
| 0:56.4 | Okay, so I decided to cycle to work today. I usually bring some clothes to change into when I get to work. |
| 1:04.7 | But today, I got here, looked in my bag and saw that I'd left my trousers at home. It was a real face palm |
| 1:14.5 | moment. Oh dear, that's embarrassing. See, look, now you're face palming as well. Let's learn that |
| 1:23.0 | expression. Face palm moment. I should describe how Faye Faye looks right now. She's sat opposite me and has her |
| 1:30.2 | head in her hands. Yes. So the noun face palm comes from the noun's face and palm. Your palm is |
| 1:38.1 | the surface of your hand. A face palm is where you have your head against the palm of your hand, because you're embarrassed, |
| 1:45.8 | annoyed or frustrated. Something that makes you do that is a face palm moment. Maybe you sent an |
| 1:52.8 | email to the wrong person, or maybe you've just dropped a cup of coffee. The face palm moment is when |
| 1:59.6 | you realise that you've done something wrong or silly. |
| 2:03.5 | Sometimes you might do it in response to someone else doing something wrong or silly. |
| 2:08.0 | Yes, let's hear some more examples of other people using the expression face palm moment. |
| 2:16.4 | I travelled two hours to take photos of this amazing sunset |
| 2:21.1 | and then I realised I forgot my camera. |
| 2:23.7 | What a face palm moment. |
... |
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