go off at a tangent BrE
go off on a tangent AmE informal

Some one said that he went off at a tangent in 1912.

That's what I started to tell you before we went off at a tangent.

He was going right back to the moment when things had started going off at a tangent.

"Think of the poor," said Margaret, going off at a tangent.

Then, just before I went to sleep, my mind went off at a tangent.

"I wonder," he said, and went off at a tangent.

"Julia is fourteen now," she said, going off at a tangent.

We'd been misled on that one, gone off at a tangent, wasted thousands of man hours.

"Sorry, my mind went off at a tangent," he said, clearing his throat.

Campbell seemed to go off at a tangent.

She paused, before going off at a tangent.

The vessel seemed to go off at a tangent to its former course and leapt almost instantly from view into the fog.

I was about to explode at the calloused way he put it when my mind went off at a tangent.

Loretta's mind went off at a tangent.

A girl suddenly went off at a tangent, had clipped herself to one of the men, arm through arm slack.

They had known each other so long and so well that neither of them was ever fazed when the conversation went off at a tangent.

"You always go off at a tangent, darling.

And to propose a form of economic control at an EU level would mean going off at a tangent.

Mrs Ackroyd went off at a tangent, after her usual fashion.

Windle had gone off at a tangent.

Otherwise Janie might have gone off at a tangent about spirits of ancient druids carrying out blood sacrifice, or something like that.

His mind went off at a tangent, and he said: "Didn't you say this was the Eastern Settlement?"

One goes off at a tangent, a fresh, fierce, fantastic tangent, on the slightest excuse.

And of course any really good bridge player should --" Norman's mind went off at a tangent.

Then someone snatched away my sign--" He stopped for a moment, then went off at a tangent.

Now was not the time to go off on a tangent.

I reserve my right to go off on a tangent.

Hmm, things seem to have gone off on a tangent here.

He suddenly went off on a tangent about some bird.

Lot of people watch the traps, see, and the guy may be going off on a tangent.

"I like taking a recipe and, you know, going off on a tangent to see what happens."

"I've no intention of going off on a tangent by myself," she said.

"They took their ideas from religion and went off on a tangent.

Then he can't accuse me of going off on a tangent.

"Then, absolutely without warning, he went off on a tangent.

There's something very basic there; it's essentially two ideas and then the third section goes off on a tangent.

But that's now going off on a tangent.

The observer insures that the group doesn't go off on a tangent.

The trim interceptor went off on a tangent and shot straight toward Mars.

But Jet's not go off on a tangent.

Will my paycheck get cosigned, or is that going off on a tangent?'

My mind went off on a tangent.

I decided to keep that to myself for the moment though, to find out what he was leading up to, rather than going off on a tangent.

They went off on a tangent about Quake and Third Dimension.

"Listen," he started, "maybe you can-" His mind went off on a tangent, and the words stopped coming.

"Ultimately, to our satisfaction and gratitude, the developer didn't go off on a tangent.

The judge, less given to speculation, simply thought that Pereda had gone off on a tangent.

Edmond tells a prison minister what happened, but goes off on a tangent, shouting that God has been unfair to him.

As Shawn starts going off on a tangent, Juliet abruptly kisses him.

He paused for a second as his mind went off on a tangent searching for a face-saving way out.