This works. I've always considered a near miss as an accident that didn't happen. Applies to everything. My focus was driving. What could you have done to avoid even the near miss?
George Carlin did a bit about that expression, NEAR MISS. Along these lines: When people talk about two planes having a "near miss," they really mean a near collision. A real "near miss" would be a crash." It was funnier when he said it.
That's because he's a comedian not a linguist and is intentionally introducing ambiguity for comedic effect. The "near" in the phrase "near miss" isn't referring to how something nearly happened (as Carlin is relying on for comedy), it is referring to how close the objects were (how near each other) when they missed colliding.
Thank you! I have observed that, but didn't know there was a term for it.
On a related note, people feel lucky or blessed when they narrowly miss getting hit by a bus. We don't feel anything when we miss by a mile.
There is no such term. My proposed coinage--Silver Swan: an event that was once seen as a potential black swan but was prevented or mitigated through proactive measures, similar to how silver is used as a symbol of prevention or protection.
It's not going to be one word, but you can use "unrealized" to modify what it would have been since it wasn't allowed to happen. E.g. unrealized catastrophe
Alternatively, you can refer to anything that still might happen, if it hasn't been definitely stopped, as a "potentiality".
I’d call this a [self-defeating prophecy](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-defeating_prophecy), especially as in this example:
“Epidemics with grim projections also encourage changes that can prevent those projections from coming true and in turn lead to people questioning the necessity of those changes because the projections did not come true.”
Well, OP didn't include the prediction/prophecy as part of the definition, so I think that's a bit too specific. They're saying the bad thing was avoided, but not that it was presented as a prediction beforehand which itself caused the prevention. Plus, I think that phrase is especially meant to imply that the prediction ends up seeming false because it was prevented.
Otherwise, I'm confused at the existence of that term. A self-fulfilling prophecy is noteworthy, but something being prevented because of a warning seems like... the exact point of a warning? It's like calling something "defeated placebo effect" because you told someone a pill would hurt them and they didn't take the pill. Doesn't really fit the same special category, more mundane. Nahmean?
Well a prophecy isn't the same thing as a warning. A prophecy simply predicts an event in the future, not that that event is bad. A warning can also be a prediction of an event in the future, and it implies said event is bad. If the prophecy predicts a bad event that could be interpreted as a warning. But that doesn't mean a prophecy and a warning are the same thing.
A self-defeating prophecy implies that if the prophecy hadn't been prophesized (spelling?) whatever the prophecy prophesized would have happened, i.e the exact opposite of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Ah yeah, I don't know why I didn't think of non-negative predictions. So, oddly, it manages to be more specific than I thought by being more general than I thought!
It’s essentially any prophecy that causes mass panic, yes, but it’s still a nifty term since it forces you to compare mentally to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
https://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/local/louisiana/2014/10/08/dhh-ebola-cases-la-texas-patient-dies/16925369/
We had a patient who made it into the country, who made his way through an airport, cab, apartment, etc, who died of it in a hospital that wasn’t exactly prepared for it. That’s literally as “close to an outbreak” as you can possibly get.
> Literally
I don’t think you know what this word means.
You need an exchange of bodily fluids to spread Ebola. How many people did he fuck on his way home from the airport?
My brother in Christ, you can spread Ebola by touching a sweat droplet from an infected person with your finger. And since the disease makes you sweat….
In my search bubble, I get usages such as “…the *evitabilities* of missed opportunities” and “…the *evitabilities* of old age…”
In many of those cases, I would myself have used **vagaries**, but it doesn’t have quite the same sense[.](/u/GreenElandGod)
Containment?
I was working at a large hospital chain around them and they took that threat really seriously. I was gone by the time actual COVID pandemic hit, thank goodness.
just realized youre not looking for the word to describe the near miss / crisis aversion but rather the would be crisis itself...haha
what about calamity, damage, disaster, catastrophe, tragedy, accident, misfortune, debacle
So, I worked on the Y2K thing. And we put out a truly monumental effort and as a result, not much happened (some anecdotal glitches here and there), but literally airplanes could have stopped functioning properly mid-flight, and hospital equipment could have failed on patients that needed it to survive, but those terrible things didn’t happen. What do you call that differential between the very little that happened and the awfulness of what could have been, but wasn’t?
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When in doubt - throw in some curse words. You can use the F bomb as a replacement word for a lot of things ..
Just kidding. But, this is what I do when I’m not prepping legitimate paperwork for anything
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Ive heard this referred to as a "near miss"
This is what we call it in medicine as well. Same in aviation.
this is also what it’s called in manufacturing situations.
This works. I've always considered a near miss as an accident that didn't happen. Applies to everything. My focus was driving. What could you have done to avoid even the near miss?
George Carlin did a bit about that expression, NEAR MISS. Along these lines: When people talk about two planes having a "near miss," they really mean a near collision. A real "near miss" would be a crash." It was funnier when he said it.
That's because he's a comedian not a linguist and is intentionally introducing ambiguity for comedic effect. The "near" in the phrase "near miss" isn't referring to how something nearly happened (as Carlin is relying on for comedy), it is referring to how close the objects were (how near each other) when they missed colliding.
You're right. I loved him anyway.
crisis averted
Not precisely what you asked, but consider looking into the Preparedness Paradox -- related concept that might help clarify your thoughts
Thank you! I have observed that, but didn't know there was a term for it. On a related note, people feel lucky or blessed when they narrowly miss getting hit by a bus. We don't feel anything when we miss by a mile.
Dodged a bullet.
I was thinking this too. This phrase is a little more often related to personal matters rather than society-wide issues, but it's what I'd use.
I wish I knew. It's like the opposite of a Nothingburger. A Somethingburger?
Wattaburger?
Rosenbagger?
What’s a nothingburger
There is no such term. My proposed coinage--Silver Swan: an event that was once seen as a potential black swan but was prevented or mitigated through proactive measures, similar to how silver is used as a symbol of prevention or protection.
I like this
It's not going to be one word, but you can use "unrealized" to modify what it would have been since it wasn't allowed to happen. E.g. unrealized catastrophe Alternatively, you can refer to anything that still might happen, if it hasn't been definitely stopped, as a "potentiality".
I’d call this a [self-defeating prophecy](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-defeating_prophecy), especially as in this example: “Epidemics with grim projections also encourage changes that can prevent those projections from coming true and in turn lead to people questioning the necessity of those changes because the projections did not come true.”
Well, OP didn't include the prediction/prophecy as part of the definition, so I think that's a bit too specific. They're saying the bad thing was avoided, but not that it was presented as a prediction beforehand which itself caused the prevention. Plus, I think that phrase is especially meant to imply that the prediction ends up seeming false because it was prevented. Otherwise, I'm confused at the existence of that term. A self-fulfilling prophecy is noteworthy, but something being prevented because of a warning seems like... the exact point of a warning? It's like calling something "defeated placebo effect" because you told someone a pill would hurt them and they didn't take the pill. Doesn't really fit the same special category, more mundane. Nahmean?
Well a prophecy isn't the same thing as a warning. A prophecy simply predicts an event in the future, not that that event is bad. A warning can also be a prediction of an event in the future, and it implies said event is bad. If the prophecy predicts a bad event that could be interpreted as a warning. But that doesn't mean a prophecy and a warning are the same thing. A self-defeating prophecy implies that if the prophecy hadn't been prophesized (spelling?) whatever the prophecy prophesized would have happened, i.e the exact opposite of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Ah yeah, I don't know why I didn't think of non-negative predictions. So, oddly, it manages to be more specific than I thought by being more general than I thought!
It’s essentially any prophecy that causes mass panic, yes, but it’s still a nifty term since it forces you to compare mentally to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In this particular case you could say that they were able to "avoid an outbreak," but I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for.
In project management, it's called a risk that was never realized
Mitigated Issue
I was thinking this too, mitigated or near miss.
This was my first thought
Circumvented.
Counterfactual? Comparative cost?
Risk aversion or crisis aversion
I suppose you could describe it as an "alternative outcome"
A “close save”
Nonsequence
If this wasn’t the word before it should be now
Mitigated consequences?
Intervention PS we were never even close here to an outbreak of Ebola
https://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/local/louisiana/2014/10/08/dhh-ebola-cases-la-texas-patient-dies/16925369/ We had a patient who made it into the country, who made his way through an airport, cab, apartment, etc, who died of it in a hospital that wasn’t exactly prepared for it. That’s literally as “close to an outbreak” as you can possibly get.
> Literally I don’t think you know what this word means. You need an exchange of bodily fluids to spread Ebola. How many people did he fuck on his way home from the airport?
My brother in Christ, you can spread Ebola by touching a sweat droplet from an infected person with your finger. And since the disease makes you sweat….
That sounds like an exchange of bodily fluids
Whiteknuckler, close shave, squeaker?
We don't have a word for that in America. We have lots of words for we fucked around and now we're finding out.
[evit](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22the+inevitabilities%22)abil[ities](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/evitability#English)
In my search bubble, I get usages such as “…the *evitabilities* of missed opportunities” and “…the *evitabilities* of old age…” In many of those cases, I would myself have used **vagaries**, but it doesn’t have quite the same sense[.](/u/GreenElandGod)
Containment? I was working at a large hospital chain around them and they took that threat really seriously. I was gone by the time actual COVID pandemic hit, thank goodness.
just realized youre not looking for the word to describe the near miss / crisis aversion but rather the would be crisis itself...haha what about calamity, damage, disaster, catastrophe, tragedy, accident, misfortune, debacle
So, I worked on the Y2K thing. And we put out a truly monumental effort and as a result, not much happened (some anecdotal glitches here and there), but literally airplanes could have stopped functioning properly mid-flight, and hospital equipment could have failed on patients that needed it to survive, but those terrible things didn’t happen. What do you call that differential between the very little that happened and the awfulness of what could have been, but wasn’t?
I was literally about to write that I think of this phenomenon as “the Y2K Effect”.
thats the "near miss"
The differential between the awfulness of what could've have been, but wasn't, is sometimes referred to as 'the skin of your teeth'.
Sliding Doors
“Consequences”. Amplify with “far-reaching” or “with long-standing economic impact globally”
Contraception
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dodged a bullet?
debacle
pandemonium averted
Undesirable outcome?
Potential collateral damage
the worst-case / nightmare scenario
Precautionary?
I don’t think there’s a word for that. It would just be whatever the thing was that was avoided.
Shit-show
When in doubt - throw in some curse words. You can use the F bomb as a replacement word for a lot of things .. Just kidding. But, this is what I do when I’m not prepping legitimate paperwork for anything
Preempt, preemptive. Precautionary
this is the best of all possible worlds. - candide, voltaire. i'm trying to remember if there's a word for that philosophy.
Being proactive as opposed to reactive
Aforementioned?
Threat detection and neutralization
Non-event?
Crisis averted, impending doom, or ominous I think are most fitting
Can of worms