Terrence Howard -- What I Meant to Say About Oprah Was ...

Terrence Howard must have been on the receiving end of a stern lecture ... because after his salacious comments about Oprah Winfrey went viral this week, he was waaaaaaay more respectful the second time around.

In case you missed it ... Howard described his love scenes in a movie he recently shot with her by saying, "Oprah and I had such chemistry. To be able to make out with Oprah and to have love scenes with her and those tig ol' bitties ... She's such a lovely, voluptuous woman ... That was wonderful."

But when he bumped into our photog Friday on the snowy streets of NYC ... Howard chose a reverent tone, telling us Oprah is a "beautiful woman" and he was lucky "to touch the Queen."

Sounds like someone was afraid of getting beheaded.