/ɡəʊ ˈɒf ɒn ə ˈtændʒənt/
English idiom, informal. To jump suddenly from one topic to a completely unrelated one.
Draft Not yet checked by a native English speaker.
How do people use Go off on a tangent
?
Informal and very common in meetings, classrooms and chats, often as a little apology: “sorry, I’m going off on a tangent”. Americans say “go off on a tangent”, while British speakers also say “go off at a tangent” or “fly off at a tangent”. The noun works by itself as well, so “that was a bit of a tangent” is fine.
Also said go off at a tangent, fly off at a tangent, go on a tangent
Go off on a tangent
in real sentences
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Sorry, I didn’t mean to go off on a tangent.
Tatoeba, sentence by Bellifer, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Stick to the subject, don’t go off on a tangent.
Tatoeba, sentence by earthsophagus, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Go off on a tangent
come from?
The picture comes from geometry. A tangent is a straight line that touches a curve at a single point and then heads off in its own direction, which is exactly what a rambling speaker does to the original topic. English Wiktionary files the idiom under “fly off at a tangent” and marks “go off on a tangent” as the US form, but it doesn’t give a date for when people first used it about talk.
Mistakes learners make with Go off on a tangent
Learners drop or change the article and say “go off on tangent” or “go off the tangent”. It needs “a”: “on a tangent” in American English, “at a tangent” in British English.
Other English idioms like Go off on a tangent
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?
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