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by Liz Walter

Most of us know someone who often gets into trouble because they don’t stop to consider the consequences of their behaviour. This post is about ways of describing these people and their actions.

When people do things without thinking enough, we might say that they didn’t think it through or that they did it with no thought for something or someone they probably should have considered:

I applied for a job in Ireland without really thinking it through.

He jumped in the water to rescue the child, with no thought for his own safety.

People who are impulsive or impetuous do things without considering them enough, often because they are feeling strong emotions or because such behaviour is part of their character. Someone who is hotheaded also acts in a quick, emotional way, often when they are angry:

I tend to make impulsive purchases, especially where clothes are concerned.

He is an impetuous man who often upsets people.

She was a hotheaded campaigner for women’s rights.

Similarly, a rash decision is one that is taken too quickly and often proves to be unwise. We can also say that someone rushes headlong into something, often with unfortunate results. A popular proverb based on this idea is marry in haste, repent at leisure – in other words, if you marry someone you don’t know well enough, you are likely to regret it!

It was rash of you to lend him money.

We seem to be rushing headlong into war.

They’ve only known one another a few weeks. Marry in haste, repent at leisure!

Sometimes people don’t care about the possible negative consequences of actions they haven’t considered much. The word reckless is often used to describe people like this or their actions. A more positive phrase, often used when people make a definite decision to do something risky but which they think will be enjoyable, is throw caution to the wind/winds:

He demonstrated a reckless disregard for the safety of his employees.

I decided to throw caution to the winds and quit my job.

I’ll finish with another nice proverb. Fools rush in (where angels fear to tread) is a way of saying that foolish people often act or say things without considering the consequences or the facts of a situation enough, whereas wiser people do not.

I hope you found this post useful. Have you ever done anything reckless or impulsive?