sour note

A particularly unfortunate, unpleasant, or disagreeable topic of news, information, or conversation. News of my father's passing hit quite a sour note before my graduation ceremony. The CEO's speech at the Annual General Meeting ended on quite a sour note when he announced that there would be company-wide pay cuts and layoffs.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Rupert	RUY-pərt (Dutch), ROO-pərt (English), RUW-pert (Polish)	German, Dutch, English, Polish
Ronald	['rɔləld]
Gaja (2)	GIE-ah	Esperanto
Debbi	DEB-ee	English
Elena	E-le-nah (Italian), e-LE-nah (Spanish), ye-LYE-nah (Russian), ee-LYE-nah (Russian)	Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovak, Lithuanian, Russian, German, Medieval Sla
Laetitia	-	Late Roman, French