The word of the day is wrong-foot:
1. trans. In tennis, football, etc.: (by deceptive play) to cause (an opponent) to have his balance on the wrong foot.
2. trans. fig. To disconcert by an unexpected move; to catch unprepared. (OED)
"The writer-director of 'Friends with Money' (2006) and 'Please Give' (2010) has a wonderful ear for blunders, for jokes that wrong-foot the listener, for kindnesses that don't quite reach the person they are intended to reach."
- David Denby, "Drifting: 'Gravity' and 'Enough Said'", 7 October 2013 The New Yorker
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