knee-jerk

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The Word of the Day for July 16 is:

knee-jerk   \NEE-jerk\   adjective 
     : readily predictable : automatic; also : reacting in a 
readily predictable way

Example sentence:
     The park committee's knee-jerk response to the jungle-gym 
accident was to close the playground for the summer.

Did you know?
     Around 1876, the sudden involuntary extension of the leg in 
response to a light blow just below the knee, which is also 
known as the "patellar reflex," was given the refreshingly 
simple designation "knee jerk." In the 1950s, "knee-jerk" became 
an adjective with a figurative sense that doesn't require any 
actual twitching. "As a salesman, I'm getting a bit weary of the 
knee-jerk association of a con artist with my professional 
calling," a correspondent once wrote to _The New York Times 
Magazine_. "Knee-jerk" often has a negative connotation. It 
usually denotes a too-hasty, impulsive, perhaps even irrational 
response that is often based on preconceived notions.