“Tangent” you may know: “tangente” in Spanish, a word used in geometry.
Sometimes, mortals “fly off at a tangent” or “go off at a tangent” This is an idiom (modismo) and is similar in Spanish (salirse por la tangente o irse por las ramas).
It means that the person says something, or does something, that is not concerned with the main point or topic: perhaps it is irrelevant or the mortal wants to avoid (evitar) an important issue.
Two examples:
- Mr. Sanchez, the Spanish Prime Minister, is always going off at tangents (siempre se va por la tangente en sus discursos) in his speeches.
- He goes off at tangents and the journalists do not stop him.
So do you sometimes go off at tangents, and perhaps draw tangents?
