Learning to use idioms and expressions which are common in the English language will make your English sound more native. In our Idiom of the Week series, we will be exploring common English idioms to help you excel in native English.

Idiom of the Week: Shoot oneself in the foot

To do something unintentionally that makes the situation worse. This expression possibly originated from soldier’s deliberately injuring themselves to avoid going into combat.

Example 1

  • A: Sales are down. Do you think the company can recover?
  • B: Well, it would help if they’d stop shooting themselves in the foot by hiring unreliable staff.

Example 2

  • Question: Can you tell me about the car industry in your country?
  • Answer: The car industry in my country is huge. There are many famous manufacturers who ship all over the world such as Toyota, Mitsubishi, and Honda. They’ve always been very successful, but some of them aren’t doing so well these days. Mitsubishi really shot themselves in the foot by lying about their fuel efficiency. Now no one trusts them and their sales are down.

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