start off on the wrong foot
Meaning: To begin something badly.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “He started off on the wrong foot by forgetting the client's name.”
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: The opposite of getting off on the right foot, and like it it goes back to the old superstition that the left foot is unlucky. The phrase is common from the 20th century.
Equivalents in other languages
- Italian: con il piede sbagliato — literally: with the wrong foot
More idioms — Body & Senses
- take one's breath away — To astonish someone with beauty or surprise.
- go away empty-handed — To get nothing at all.
- work one's fingers to the bone — To work extremely hard.
- watch one's back — To stay alert to hidden threats.
- set someone's heart racing — To excite or alarm someone.
- forget one's own head — To be extremely forgetful.
More English idioms
- on the ropes — Close to defeat or collapse.
- hit rock bottom — To reach the lowest possible point.
- move with the times — To keep up with change instead of clinging to old ways.
- beat the drum for something — To promote something loudly and publicly.
- any old how — Carelessly, with no attention to doing it properly.
- take to one's heels — To run away.
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