In 1989 this public figure said "I wish I had spent more time in school studying my Latin." Who, and on what occasion?

This famous foot-in-mouth moment belongs to former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle. In 1989, following a seven-nation diplomatic tour of Latin America, he was speaking to the United Negro College Fund. Reflecting on his trip and the language barriers he encountered, he made the now-infamous remark, expressing a wish that he had studied "Latin" more diligently in school to better communicate with the people he met.

The gaffe, of course, was that while the dominant languages of Latin America—Spanish and Portuguese—are Romance languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin, nobody in the region actually speaks the ancient language of the Roman Empire. The comment was immediately seized upon by comedians and political opponents as evidence of Quayle's perceived lack of intellectual depth and preparation for his high office.

This linguistic slip-up quickly became a classic example of the verbal stumbles that came to define Quayle's public image. It joined a collection of other memorable blunders, such as his televised misspelling of "potato" as "potatoe" during a visit to an elementary school. The "Latin" comment cemented his reputation for gaffes and remains one of the most frequently cited political blunders of its era.