Reviewing the Hong Kong education year, it seems that it started with a gaffe - and looks set to end with one.
A gaffe, unlike a slur, an insult or outright attack, is more of a blunder than a deliberate act, but the consequences of making one should never be underestimated, especially in education, where what you say about what you're doing is almost as important as doing it - a point lost on many politicians here.
Former permanent education secretary Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun opened the proceedings responding to reporters' questions about whether reform-related stress had led to the suicides of two teachers within a few days of each other, by saying that if their deaths were related to the education reforms, 'why did only two teachers [commit suicide]?'
It was only a few days more before teachers were to march, protesting both the reforms - and Mrs Law.
Although dedicated to steering the much-needed changes through, she is likely to be remembered as much for her gaffe - and an earlier one referring to students who took their own lives as selfish and irresponsible - as for her acts.
As the year-end looms we have Education Secretary Arthur Li Kwok-cheung's green apples.
The word 'gaffe' comes from a French Provencal word meaning boat hook and it is not pretty to spear yourself on your own.