What's it called when you cause something that you are actively trying to prevent? More specifically, when the action you take to prevent something actually causes that event to occur?
Example: When we first bought our Ikea rug, we really tried to keep it nice and clean (nowadays, not so much). At one point, we had some olive oil on a plate on the coffee table, for some reason. Caitlin said, "Oh, we should move this plate of olive oil to the dining table so's we don't spill it on our nice new rug. Also, I love you very much, Andyman." But in the moving of the plate of olive oil — with the sole purpose to prevent spillage onto rug — we spilled olive oil onto the rug. Hmm.
Another example: I finally got our bikes up and running after a long, cold, dark winter of bikelessness. I rode mine to school last week, and noticed my rear tire was getting a bit flat. "Oh," I said to myself, "I really oughta pump this bad boy up so's I don't get a flat tire. Also, I sure do love that girl of mine." So I broke out the handpump and succeeded in air-i-fying my tire. Good to go. But I had trouble getting the pump off, and I'm pretty sure I weakened the tube around the nozzle area. Whatever I did, the tire went flat when I hit one small bump. I'm positive that my pumping up of the tire directly caused (or at the very least, contributed to) the flattening of the tire — the very thing I was trying to prevent!
Maybe this happens more often than I realize or care to admit. Like when you swerve to avoid a car (to avoid a collision) only to hit another. Maybe this phenomenon isn't noteworthy enough for mentioning or italics or even a blog post at all. But for some reason it's been gnawing at me. How does this happen? Why? To whom? And more importantly, by what name should we call it? I have a good idea, but I'd like to hear some suggestions first. So: Please help me out in the naming of this unfortunate phenomenon. Or maybe help me come up with some more examples.
Example: When we first bought our Ikea rug, we really tried to keep it nice and clean (nowadays, not so much). At one point, we had some olive oil on a plate on the coffee table, for some reason. Caitlin said, "Oh, we should move this plate of olive oil to the dining table so's we don't spill it on our nice new rug. Also, I love you very much, Andyman." But in the moving of the plate of olive oil — with the sole purpose to prevent spillage onto rug — we spilled olive oil onto the rug. Hmm.
Another example: I finally got our bikes up and running after a long, cold, dark winter of bikelessness. I rode mine to school last week, and noticed my rear tire was getting a bit flat. "Oh," I said to myself, "I really oughta pump this bad boy up so's I don't get a flat tire. Also, I sure do love that girl of mine." So I broke out the handpump and succeeded in air-i-fying my tire. Good to go. But I had trouble getting the pump off, and I'm pretty sure I weakened the tube around the nozzle area. Whatever I did, the tire went flat when I hit one small bump. I'm positive that my pumping up of the tire directly caused (or at the very least, contributed to) the flattening of the tire — the very thing I was trying to prevent!
Maybe this happens more often than I realize or care to admit. Like when you swerve to avoid a car (to avoid a collision) only to hit another. Maybe this phenomenon isn't noteworthy enough for mentioning or italics or even a blog post at all. But for some reason it's been gnawing at me. How does this happen? Why? To whom? And more importantly, by what name should we call it? I have a good idea, but I'd like to hear some suggestions first. So: Please help me out in the naming of this unfortunate phenomenon. Or maybe help me come up with some more examples.
The Law of Disintended Consequences
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