take a wrong turn at Albuquerque

present singular third person takes a wrong turn at Albuquerque · participle present taking a wrong turn at Albuquerque · past took a wrong turn at Albuquerque · participle past taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque · alternative make a wrong turn at Albuquerque · alternative make the wrong turn at Albuquerque · alternative take the wrong turn at Albuquerque

1. idiomaticTo take a wrong turn or miss a turn in a journey, so reaching a place distant from the original goal.

   Against the glacial backdrop he looked like a lost minstrel who'd taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

   2008, Paul Beatty, Slumberland, page 158

   4 more examples

   Anyways, he must have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque because I walked in on him using our restroom facilities and appearing to be very confused.

   2010, Elaine Chaney, Sanity, Interrupted.., page 18

   Since cardiac embryology can be summed up as 9 months of looping and unlooping, you can think of the congenitally malformed heart as having taken the wrong turn at Albuquerque, and not just one time.

   2013, Liliana Cohen, Daniel M. Shindler, “17: Congenital Heart Disease”, in Christopher Gallagher, John C Sciarra, Steven Ginsberg, editors, Board Stiff TEE: Transesophageal Echocardiography, 2nd edition, page 163

   But somewhere on the road to creating a useful tool for psychiatry, in my opinion the wheels fell off the bus, or, more accurately, the carpool's navigators took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

   2014, Michael W. Corrigan, Debunking ADHD: 10 Reasons to Stop Drugging Kids for Acting Like Kids, page 44

   It takes 25 minutes for Bugs Bunny to tunnel his way into that sequel, becoming the first Looney Tune to appear in this supposed Looney Tunes movie. Maybe the rabbit and his studio both took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

   2021 July 14, A. A. Dowd, “Space Jam: A New Legacy is one big, witless commercial for Warner Bros. properties”, in The A.V. Club