a bad penny always turns up

alternative a bad penny always comes back · alternative the bad penny always comes back · alternative the bad penny always turns up

1. A person or thing which is unpleasant, dishonorable, or unwanted tends to appear (or reappear), especially at inopportune times.

   Elsa Schneider: I never expected to see you again. Indiana Jones: I'm like a bad penny. I always turn up.

   1989, Jeffrey Boam (author of screenplay), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, (excerpts at wikiquote)

   3 more examples

   It has been wisely said: “A bad penny always turns up again.” . . . Merwin K. Hart turns up again and again. And the Money-Changers of the Republican Party have knowingly sought to profit from Hart's lobby activities.

   1952, Ralph Morris Goldman, “The Money-Changers at the Ballot Box: A Study of Republican Election Buying,”, in The Future Catches Up, Vol. 2, published 2002, →ISBN, page 89

   Being superstitious was common among a lot of the military. . . . Aircraft were given names such as The Bad Penny (as in a bad penny always turns up).

   2005, Ron Greer and Mike Wicks, Fire from the Sky: A diary over Japan (2013 iUniverse edition), p. 184 (Google preview)

   I had managed to avoid Julie for almost four years, but, as my grandmother used to say, the bad penny always turns up, and Julie Evanson was one very bad penny.

   2011, Gail Bowen, The Further Investigations of Joanne Kilbourn, →ISBN

2. An action or task that is carried out improperly eventually causes problems.