We’re just shooting ourselves in the dark!

When discussing a problem that they had been trying to troubleshoot for a rather long time, the submitter’s  coworker exclaimed “At this point we’re just shooting ourselves in the dark!”  This is a mashup of “shooting yourself in the foot” (to damage or impede’s one’s own plans) and “a shot in the dark” (a guess or estimate).  The words “shoot” and “shot” are the culprits here.  As the submitter, Ian, says,  “Perhaps a bit darker than either taking shots in the dark or shooting ourselves in the feet, but it certainly got her point across.”  This one reminds me of one of my favorite malaphors posted on this site, “It’s a crap in the dark.”  https://malaphors.com/2012/12/26/its-a-crap-in-the-dark/.  Now that’s dark!

A big thanks to Ian for sharing this one.