🚫 Missing the Mark: The Tale of Guessing Gone Awry ❌
Ah, to err is human, but to get it spectacularly wrong is divine comedy. Whether it’s a missed guess, a shot in the dark, or calling it completely backward, we all land in the category of mightily mistaken at times.
Description:
“To be mistaken, to be wrong in one’s assumptions.” This phrase, dating from the first half of the 1900s, is often put negatively, as in “And, when you’re older, an overdose of sex appeal, or I miss my guess” (M. de la Roche, Whiteoak Harvest, 1936).
🚩 Similar Terms and Expressions:
- Barking up the wrong tree: Pursuing a mistaken or misguided line of thought or course of action.
- On the wrong track: Going in a direction with the wrong assumptions or objectives.
- Shooting in the dark: Making a wild, unsubstantiated guess.
- Off base: Completely incorrect or inappropriate.
- Out in left field: Completely wrong; odd or unconventional in thinking.
💡 Synonyms:
- Mistaken
- Erroneous
- Wrong
- Misjudged
🚫 Antonyms:
- Correct
- Accurate
- Right
- Certain
🗣️ Humor-filled Quotes:
“As a wise man once said, ‘I have never been wrong, but all my blunders are correctable misperceptions.’” - Unknown
“You know you’re wrong when your computer-driven car takes you to the middle of a lake instead of your mother-in-law’s house. Oh wait, same thing.” - Tech Wizard
🗣️ Proverbs:
- “To err is human; to admit it is divine.”
- “A fool may deceive with a single wise word, but the wise admit their many fool’s words.”
🎬 Recommended Readings:
- Books:
- Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson
- Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz
- Poetry:
- An Essay on Criticism by Alexander Pope (“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”)
- Movies:
- Groundhog Day (1993) - A story of missteps and learning from one’s errors.
- The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) - Overcoming mistakes and persevering.
📖 Excerpt from Literature:
In Mazo de la Roche’s Whiteoak Harvest, we encounter a classic example: “And, when you’re older, an overdose of sex appeal, or I miss my guess.” See how the dramatic tone of this early 20th-century novel keeps the reader engaged over a seemingly minor mistake.
Farewell Thought:
“Believe you may be wrong, and believe you may be right. The beauty lies in the voyage of discovery.”
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