Off on the wrong foot

    出师不利

    A: It's not easy for Bill and Tom to become good friends.

    B: Why? They do share similar backgrounds and hobbies.

    A: They got off on the wrong foot. They had a minor car accident just before they were introduced last year.

    Note: This idiom means "getting a bad start on a relationship or task." The "wrong" foot is the left foot. It may have come from the long-standing preference people have for the "right." We have taken the Latin for left -- sinister -- to mean dark and suspicious. There is a suggestion that in ancient Greece it was considered unlucky to put the left foot onto the floor or into one's shoe first. Another suggestion is that the concept of a right foot and a wrong foot comes from the military, where in order to march in step soldiers all have to start with the same foot.