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go off the rails |
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go off the rails (informal) to start behaving strangely or in a way that is not acceptable to society He went off the rails in his twenties and started living on the streets. By the law of probabilities if you have five kids, one of them's going to go off the rails. See also: rail go off the rails also run off the rails to be spoiled by bad management Things were going off the rails here, and no one was getting any work done. This is a well-intentioned system that has been run off the rails. Etymology: from the idea of a train leaving the rails (metal bars) it travels on See also: rail How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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On the issue of Rumsfeld's secret spy powers, Feingold told The Progressive: "When the Executive Branch starts acting without oversight from the elected representatives of the American people in Congress, a fundamental principle of our system of government is abandoned, and policy starts to go off the rails. That question is the reason most presentations go off the rails. |
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