step on a rake

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English

Etymology

The second sense was popularized by a gag in the 1993 episode "Cape Feare" of The Simpsons, in which Sideshow Bob, already injured, accidentally steps on several rakes, causing the handles to hit him in the face.

Pronunciation

Verb

step on a rake (third-person singular simple present steps on a rake, present participle stepping on a rake, simple past and past participle stepped on a rake)

  1. (literally) To step on the tines of a garden rake, causing the handle of the rake to rise from the ground rapidly, striking the person walking in the face.
  2. (idiomatic) To fall victim to an avoidable (usually self-caused) hazard or error.
    • 1939, Editor & Publisher, volume 72, page 3:
      Our President [Franklin Roosevelt] stepped on a rake last week, and the handle hopped up and hit him in the eye. He then blamed the press for leaving the rake lying around.
    • 1988 June 29, William L. Dickinson, Hearings before the full committee and the Acquisition Policy Panel, Committee on Armed Service (US House of Reps.), page 26:
      We passed this revolving door legislation here. We have done several things we thought were to tighten the system so that we would obviate any other scandals or improprieties. It was sort of like stepping on a rake here — this thing flies up and hits you in the face. We thought we had done a pretty good job.
    • 1990 April 27, “The rake awaits”, in The Planner: journal of the Royal Town Planning Institute, volume 76, number 16, page 3:
      Ever since Patrick Jenkin as Environment Secretary attempted a modest revision of Green Belt policy - and suffered on his own admission an experience equivalent to stepping on a rake in long grass - politicians have been wary of suggesting even minor modifications to this well established symbol of post-war British planning.
    • 2012 August 16, Kevin Roose, “The Libor Scandal Is About to Hit Home”, in Intelligencer:
      But having seen Wall Street step on a rake time and time again when it comes to incriminating e-mails and villainous characters, you can be fairly confident that Liborgate is going to be just as big a hit in the U.S. as it was abroad.
    • 2020 July 6, Scott Stinson, “Scott Stinson: The MLB could have come out on top of COVID-19. Instead, it's descending into chaos”, in National Post:
      Major League Baseball has displayed a unique ability to step on a rake in recent years, with a championship team marred by a cheating scandal and a sudden change in the performance of its baseballs that the league has been unable to explain.
    • 2023 March 9, Evan Michealson, What to make of a weird Timberwolves team, 20223, page 9:
      Looking at the team's schedule to this point reveals signs of progress followed immediately by stepping on a rake.

Translations

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