Learn English – word analogous to ‘shooting yourself in the foot’

ironysingle-word-requests

Specifically I'm wondering if there's a word that describes the phenomenon where some party takes some action to remedy a situation and the result of that action makes the original situation worse.

Recent examples that made me think about this:

  • The NFL suspended a journalist for editorializing a podcast in a way against the party line – the suspension brought the podcast into much more popular light and greatly increased public sympathy for the journalist.

  • On Sunday, the protests in Hong Kong were apparently quite civilized, but the police crackdown/pepper spray movement dramatically increased public support for the protestors and the protests have only swelled in size & support (to my understanding).

I'm wondering if there is a very succinct word for this phenomenon that has so far eluded me. I'm not even sure shooting yourself in the foot is a good saying to describe it.

Best Answer

The term backfire means

(Of a plan or action) rebound adversely on the originator; have the opposite effect to what was intended: overzealous publicity backfired on her

[Oxford Dictionary Online]

Similarly boomerang

(Of a plan or action) return to the originator, often with negative consequences: misleading consumers about quality will eventually boomerang on a carmaker

[Oxford Dictionary Online]

And blowback

(chiefly US) The unintended adverse results of a political action or situation: this is the blowback from all those aggressive public health campaigns

[Oxford Dictionary Online]

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