Saturday, June 5, 2010

Answer to quiz: go astray

Question: These measurements don't look right. My calculations must have ________ somewhere.

Answer: Gone astray
Go astray means when something fails to arrive where it should, e.g. "I don't understand how my e-mail went astray".

There is an English proverb "Better to ask the way than go astray".

If you are a bit untidy like me, a lot of things tend to "go astray". They are not actually lost as they might still appear one day :-)

However, if you lead someone astray, it means you influence someone in a negative way or lead them in the wrong direction, e.g. She was led astray by her addiction.

2 comments:

  1. Friday night and whith no plans! Catherine, I wonder when my live went astray..

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  2. Esther, I can't think of any better plan for a Friday night than reading my blog ;-)

    As Oscar Wilde said, “The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray.” Hmmm, debatable, that one!

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