Reader question: He's off the rails.

Could you explain “off the rails”?

My comments:

Picture a train crash!

Rails are the two metal tracks fixed to the ground on which trains move along. Imagine you’re on a train to Shanghai and the thing goes off the rails during the dead of the night….

Sorry for stirring your imagination this way but you get the idea.

Hence, if someone’s off the rails, they’re off the right track. Something’s wrong with them. Or they might do something wrong.

Year-round residents & summer people

Drag one's feet

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Benefits package

Closed-door talk

March Madness

On-again,off-again

Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.