off the track
prep_phrase1
Derailed, of a railway carriage, etc.
2
Away from the proper subject; irrelevant, unrelated.
- I shall have to tell Ralphie of this, lest he get any ideas. ¶ Okay, I’ve gotten completely off the track, so let’s get back to Earl, who had run into a roadblock in his desire to administer wedgies.2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “Toys for kinky girls and boys—It’s not just whips and chains anymore.” (chapter 3), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave, →ISBN, page 53:
3
Not on right course; inaccurate.
- As for great men and kings being History's slaves, I think Tolstoi was off the track. Don't kid youself, kings are the most sublime sick. Manic Depressive heroes pull Mankind into their cycles and carry everybody away.1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 6: