Form an interview with Daniel Radcliffe, almost 18, the actor who plays Harry Potter in the movies and is well-reviewed for his current starring stage-performance in Equus:

"My ethic is to wrong-foot people," the young prince of players says, recalling a recent interview with a reporter who must have expected someone not too bright. To wrong-foot people? To catch them off-guard? "Yes," he nods, "absolutely. People talk about all the child actors who went off the rails. Why don't they talk about [those] who grew up and just keep doing fantastic work?"

I'd never heard of the term. Is it just me, or is this one of those terms that's familiar on one side of the pond but unknown on the other?

It's in the COED online.

It's very common here. It's a sporting metaphor from soccer. It refers to taking the ball the opposite way to the way the defender expects, leaving him off balance and on the "wrong foot" to do anything about it.

How about the expression "sold him a dummy" which has a similar meaning and a similar origin? Is that used in the US?

"sold him a dummy"

Like wrong-foot, I've not heard this one before. I have heard of first-foot as a noun.

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
[first-foot.

With what meaning?

Here "first-footing" is the tradition of the first to enter you house after midnight at the New Year bringing good luck.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,

There's a similar expression, "to catch someone on the back foot", which means they are unready for something, not expecting to have to react swiftly.

With what meaning?

Yes, first person to enter your house in the New Year. It's a British term, not a US one as far as I know.