The French expression “être à côté de la plaque” translates literally to “to be on the side of the target”. The idiom in particular has several English meanings:
- to be clueless
- to be wide off the mark
- to be incorrect, inaccurate
- to be off the beam
- to be completely mistaken
- to miss the point completely
Here’s an example sentence:
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Marc travaille dans la finance depuis trois ans mais il ne comprend pas du tout ce qui se passe dans les marchés financiers. Il est vraiment à côté de la plaque. Mark has been working in finance for three years but he doesn’t understand what’s happening in the financial markets at all. He’s really clueless.
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Bonjour! My name is David Issokson. I'm based in Victor, Idaho (near Jackson, Wyoming) and have helped hundreds of students to learn French online since 2013.
