go off into the weeds
Stray from topic
Go off into the weeds is to stray from the main topic into excessive detail or tangential matters.
A conversation goes off into the weeds when participants lose sight of the central point: We were supposed to discuss the budget, but we went off into the weeds talking about font choices.
The image suggests leaving a clear path for overgrown territory.
Often shortened to in the weeds.
- wanderMove without fixed direction
- strayWander from course
- go off on a tangentDeviate from the subject
- wild-goose chasePointless, hopeless search
- red herringIntentional misleading distraction
bark up the wrong tree · exercise in futility · spin one's wheels · beat around the bush · sidetrack · digress · lost · minutiae · tilt at windmills · derail · overanalyze · pedantic · micromanage · tangent · off-track · granular · miss the forest for the trees · rabbit hole
go off into the weedsstay on track
stay focused · get to the point · cut to the chase · stay the course · keep one's eye on the ball