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

Keeping up with the Jones's

Benefits package

Closed-door talk

March Madness

On-again,off-again

Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

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.