English in Use - News Headlines

This headline appears in the Daily Mirror in a story about a crooked post office boss in the UK who tried to escape prosecution by claiming he couldn't speak after being struck dumb by God.  Amritpal Mehat, hadn't spoken for over a year, but was tricked into talking by a crafty psychiatrist, who wished him “good luck” in his native Punjabi and after a year without uttering a word, Mehat couldn’t resist saying: “Thank you.”

The "slip of the tongue" in the headline is used to describe an accidental and usually trivial mistake in speaking, but at least his "thank you" shows he was brought up to be polite.

More tongue idioms here.

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