From ‘doing a poo’ to ‘pubic services’: The most hilarious text and email gaffes

We’ve all experienced that sinking feeling in the pit of our stomach when we’ve said or done something we shouldn’t have, and with the advent of technology it has become even easier to put your foot in it without even having to meet someone or exchange words face to face.

That is precisely what one woman did this week when she emailed a colleague about her toilet habits, revealing the hilarious gaffe on online forum site Mumsnet.

“Most embarrassing day of my life,” she wrote. “I have sent an email to a young male colleague saying these exact words ‘OK I will do a POO’.

“Now what I should have said was ‘ok I will raise a PO’ (purchase order) but in my rush I typed the above am I’m just mortified – he did place my order so he knew what I really meant and he hasn’t said anything about it but I’m so embarrassed.”

The funny post unsurprisingly attracted a flurry of attention with people admitting the woman’s admission had given them a laugh, with one person even joking: “I’d only worry if he asks for pics!” However many people also took to the site to confess their own text and email gaffes. Beware – hilarity ensued!

One person had an unfortunate slip of the fingers when sending an email to her entire office about her missing gum boots. She wrote: “I once sent an organisation wide email looking for some wellies I’d lost (I think it had been snowing) except I didn’t type wellies … I described them as flowery too.”

Another user wrote: “Look on the bright side: you’ve probably just given him a laugh.” Before adding: “If it’s any consolation, I’m a translator and have been known to mistype ‘public’ and send out a document referring to ‘pubic services’.”

A retail worker joined the conversation, admitting: “I told a customer I could not wait to get into his nuts today…” While another person admitted to having committed the willy-welly gaffe, writing: “I did a similar one-ordering lots of white wellies (food industry) I sent an e mail asking department heads to get everyone’s willy size.”

Poo was the subject of another slip of the tongue, as one woman revealed that a colleague has avoided her ever since the accidental crude remark. She said: “I was once eating cake with a colleague and she meant to say to me ‘I really need a spoon’ but she actually said ‘I really need a poo’. She never spoke to me again after that.”

While another user fessed up to more than one error, writing: “I once sent out a mass email to my clients saying I hope this doesn’t cause too much constipation (I can’t remember what I was writing but I used the dictionary and didn’t check the word it changed it to).”

They then added: “Also sent a manager an email saying I hope you had a good period – I was supposed to say festive period.”