Oops, my bad, dawg!

“Tact is the ability to step on a man's toes without messing up the shine on his shoes.”
-- Harry S. Truman

The idiom step on toes usually means to unintentionally offend someone by encroaching on their territory, challenging their authority, or trespassing on their rights. It implies doing something that is their responsibility or prerogative and seizing their power. Remember: To step on their toes they have to be right there, whether one realizes it or not.

Just a couple of more things to know:

1. How Not to Step on Toes


• Know the Hierarchy: Understand everyone’s roles and responsibilities. Don’t enter someone else’s domain without an invitation.


• Talk and Get Feedback: Before making big moves, discuss your plans with others, especially if they affect the work and/or are colleagues (be they peers, superiors, or subordinates). Teamwork can

restricted area

1. An area (land, sea, or air) in which there are special restrictive measures employed to prevent or minimize interference between friendly forces.


2. An area under military jurisdiction in which special security measures are employed to prevent unauthorized entry. See also restricted areas (air).

(JP 3-34)

restricted areas (air)

Seven nightingales ago

in a waking dream

where the sky was black 

and the moonlight streaming

you and I shared a cage and wrote songs to each other

we kept what we'd written like newspaper clippings

but the tip of the fountain pen cut through the paper

and they started to fly but the words were confused

and they hung in the air

beating their wings

they had warm scarlet throats

they