Sorry, My Mistake
Before it slips even farther into the past, let’s revisit
the experience of Tom Craig at the Paris Olympics. He was a member of the
Australian field hockey team and was arrested for buying cocaine. He later
apologized and said, “I made a terrible mistake.”
That’s also the word used by the person in charge of all Australia’s
athletes at the games, Anna Meares. She said, among other things, that “he has
owned up to his mistake.” But she still sent him home.
Here’s a fellow who decides to buy cocaine. He seeks out a
seller. He pays the going rate. All purposeful, voluntary actions. Then he says
he made a “mistake.”
A mistake is inadvertent, unintentional, like when I write
the wrong date on a check. Or when I try getting into the wrong car at the mall
because its identical to mine.
If you catch me breaking into your house, are you okay with
me saying, “Sorry, my mistake”? Or what if I say I meant to break into the
house next door? “Sorry, my mistake.”
Here are the four ways Merriam-Webster defines “mistake,”
with examples.
1.
To blunder in the choice of [mistook her
way in the dark]
2.
To misunderstand the meaning or intention of
[don't mistake me, I mean exactly what I said]
3.
To make a wrong judgment of the character or
ability of [The army's leaders mistook the strength of the
enemy]
4.
To identify wrongly, confuse with another [I mistook him
for his brother]
Then there’s the sense in which Craig used the word, which
was, “I displayed mind-blowingly appalling judgment, but if I call it a
‘mistake’ maybe people will be more forgiving.”
I might be more forgiving if he had later said, “I made a
mistake when I said ‘mistake.’”
[300 words]
