À tout à l'heure

Last night I saw a "piece de theatre" (aka play), Coming Out, a comedy of homophobia. My French is so bad that I had a hard time discerning the story line although I picked up much of it through gestures, facial expressions, intonations, and recognition of random words and phrases. Afterwards, my friends took me across the street for wine, music, and to discuss my understanding of the play. They thought my interpretation was very funny. Then one of the play's actors joined us. He was handsome and apparently single, as was announced at the table.

Later, as we parted ways with the actor at the metro, many "À bientôts" were exchanged, and then I chimed in with "À tout à l'heure". My friends laughed nervously and the actor said "Whoa, you move very fast". Huh? Apparently there is a small, yet meaningful, difference between those two sayings, although I thought they both meant "see ya".

À bientôt= see you later
À tout à l'heure= when he (she) is to see someone again in a matter of minutes.

I quickly replied with a self deprecating "Fast? Well I am American after all".

I can't help but wonder if this was a Freudian slip. Although probably not as I did not understand the difference between the two sayings (I do now!).

But Wikipedia says that "Popularisation of the term "Freudian Slip" has resulted in its being applied to any slip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, often in an attempt by the user to humorously assign hidden motives or an air of sexual innuendo to the mistake. This has brought about a dilution of the original technical meaning, with the word "Freudian" being applied to interpretations and explanations that have no essential connection with genuine psychoanalytic thought."

uh huh.