mea culpa

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The Word of the Day for August 27 is:

mea culpa \may-uh-KOOL-puh (the "OO" is as in "wool")\   noun
     : a formal acknowledgment of personal fault or error 

Example sentence: 
     The principal offered his mea culpa at the school board 
meeting, but not all the parents accepted it.

Did you know?  
     "Mea culpa," which means "through my fault" in Latin, comes 
from a prayer of confession in the Catholic church. Said by 
itself, it's an exclamation of apology or remorse that is used 
to mean "It was my fault" or "I apologize." "Mea culpa" is also 
a noun, however. A newspaper might issue a mea culpa for 
printing inaccurate information, or a politician might give a 
speech making mea culpas for past wrongdoings. "Mea culpa" is 
one of many English terms that derive from the Latin "culpa," 
meaning "guilt." Some other examples are "culpable" ("meriting 
condemnation or blame especially as wrong or harmful") 
and "culprit" ("one guilty of a crime or a fault").