1st annual Word-of-the-day!

Definitions of contretemp on the Web:

An inopportune or embarrassing occurrence or situation.
www.poestories.com/wordlist.php

an awkward clash; "he tried to smooth over his contretemps with the policeman"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

or as used by my Natrual Resource 455 professor (where I saw the word for the 1st time):

"...and the contretemps that arise in addressing environmental issues."