shoot oneself in the foot

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

shoot oneself in the foot

1. (idiomatic) To act against one's own interests; to unintentionally behave self-destructively.
   • 1982 April, “Reagan shoots from the lip‎”, in Black Enterprise, volume 12, number 9, page 16:

     but as President he frequently shoots himself in the foot. Some of his erroneous public statements are dillies.

   • 2007, Paul Collier, The bottom billion: why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it, page 85:

     The countries that stopped shooting themselves in the foot were able to break into new export markets

   • 2009 August, SPIN‎, volume 25, number 8, page 62:

     "I've always been the guy who shoots himself in the foot and squanders every opportunity," he says. "Now it's like, 'Do I throw it all away — or just try?'"

Synonyms

• foul one's own nest

Translations

to act against one's own interest

• Danish: skyde sig selv i foden
• Dutch: zichzelf in de voet schieten, zich in de vingers snijden
• Finnish: sahata omaa oksaansa, kompastua omiin jalkoihinsa
• French: se tirer une balle dans le pied (fr)
• German: sich ins eigene Knie schießen
• Greek: βάζω τα χεράκια μου και βγάζω τα ματάκια μου (vázo ta cherákia mou kai vgázo ta matákia mou)
• Italian: darsi la zappa sui piedi, spararsi sui piedi
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 墓穴を掘る (ja) (ぼけつをほる, boketsu o horu)
• Norwegian: skyte seg selv i foten
• Polish: strzelić sobie w stopę
• Russian: вы́стрелить себе́ в но́гу (ru) (výstrelitʹ sebé v nógu), пили́ть сук, на кото́ром сиди́шь (pilítʹ suk, na kotórom sidíšʹ)
• Spanish: tirar piedras contra el propio tejado (es)
• Swedish: skjuta sig själv i foten (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} skyte seg selv i foten
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} tirar piedras al propio tejado
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} skjuta sig själv i foten (sv)

See also

• footgun
• own goal
• hoist by one's own petard