The word ‘mistake’ is rarely used alone, which leads me to believe there are many kinds of them. A minor mistake, for instance, probably has little consequence in the big picture, although it might make you late for a dinner party or cause you to take the wrong turn.
A bad mistake suggests something more dire, as in a stock market decision that goes south. It probably will have some serious consequence; otherwise ‘bad’ wouldn’t come along for the ride.
A serious mistake most definitely has repercussions, make no mistake about it. For instance, having your girlfriend find out you’d had an affair has serious consequences to your relationship just as embezzling funds has serious implications for future employment. For future lifestyle too.
Then there’s the near-mistake, which actually doesn’t happen. But if it did, it would most likely be reclassified as a major mistake. Think of two airplanes sharing the same air space and coming within several hundred feet of each other. If they collide, the near-mistake most likely would turn into a fatal mistake.
I spent much of yesterday recovering from overdoing it at the gym the day before. Every part of my body ached, both inside and out. So I had a lot of time to ponder mistakes. Mine was, in the grand scheme, a minor mistake. Probably no harm done in the long run, but I spent an achy day as a reminder that mistakes usually involve poor judgment or misinformation or a bad choice. And that goes for all kinds of them.
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