“put your foot in it”

Megan Callaway

This ID is from Fanny Fern's "Women and their Discontents". She is addressing the man who has begun to compare women with his grandmother. She uses the term "put your foot in it" to symbolize stepping in something foul on the street. This means the equivalent of putting your foot in your mouth, or saying something you really shouldn't have. Fanny Fern uses this confrontation in the beginning of "Women and their Discontents" to show one of the biggest mistakes men make in marriage, which is to compare their wife, and inherently make her feel inferior. She also goes on to say that by holding your wife by these standards you set unrealistic and unreasonable expectations for the woman you have chosen for characteristics irrelevant to hard labor.