the.com/repercussion
The echo you ignored when you did the thing anyway.
means A consequence that follows from an action, often one that strikes back harder than expected.
from From Latin repercussio, 'a rebounding or echoing back,' built from re- ('back') plus percutere ('to strike through, beat') — the same root that gives us 'percussion.' The word originally described literal echoes and the reflection of light or sound bouncing off a surface, before it settled into its modern sense of consequences that bounce back at you, sometimes louder than the original act.
- literal root
- from Latin, meaning to strike back repeatedly
- original meaning
- once just meant echo or physical rebound
- timing trick
- always arrives later than the action that caused it
- common myth
- not automatically bad, just always a consequence