Sliding Doors & What If's

pavb2

I was listening to the radio and it was mentioned that Harry Kane's missed penalty against the French was a 'sliding doors,' moment (a seemingly inconsequential moment that nonetheless alters the trajectory of future events) but I don't think it was as it would have levelled the scores and France could have still gone on to win.

I suppose the sliding doors moment for Harry was his decision to hit the ball in the same direction as his earlier successful penalty. The 'what if,' comes into play if he had scored. But what's the difference between a 'sliding doors,' moment and the the 'what if's'. A sliding door moment for me is a specific action or decision or omission of an action or decision. 'What if's,' are often talked about with respect to history for example the length of Cleopatra's nose.

Can 'sliding doors' moments also be 'what if' moments and vice versa?

One such incident is the man who missed the Lockerbie plane by minutes, somewhere along the line he must have had a 'sliding door,' moment.

What other sliding door moments or 'what if's,' are there, be they personal, historical, sporting or otherwise? Has anybody on boards had a defining, life changing 'sliding doors,' moment?

Mister Vain

What if she didn't have a headache that night.

Oscar_Madison

The decision to get sliderobes as opposed to a traditional wardrobe would be a sliding doors moment

pavb2

What if Captain Kirk had prevented Edith Keeler from being run over . . . we’d all be speaking German now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_on_the_Edge_of_Forever

kowloon

The timeline where Gwyneth Paltrow dies is always the correct one.