Dear Prof. Borges, You are quite correct. "Gone off on a handle" is indeed not a recognised expression in the English language, neither is 'went on a wrong track' (went on THE wrong track).
All this to suggest that we all make errors ....and we should not IMHO deem the non-malicious errors of others as 'unforgiveable'. wrt the rest of your post, I'd add the following: One should always do due diligence before accepting statements made by politicians, partisans and by blog-websites (esp wrt medical matters). good wishes jc Sebastian Borges <s_m_bor...@yahoo.com> wrote: Dear JC, Thanks for the post. Perhaps "gone off on a handle" was not the correct expression, I am not sure. I meant he went on a wrong track, unnecessarily, without a thought. If I find anything worthwhile regarding the correctness of my expression, I shall get back to you. For the present, please accept my apologies. Wrt #2, I find that too much of spurious "data" is getting into the internet database. And I am sure that you will agree with me on this because a lot of spurious "medical facts" are doing the same leading to several bouts of arguments in which you have yourself been involved on Goanet. When such spurious facts reach lay persons like me, they are liable to create havoc. This is why such interventions are unforgiveable. For instance, if you google for "Manipuri language five scripts" you will get Navhind Times news report of the proceedings of the Goa Legislative Assembly wherein Churchill Alemao made the claim that Manipur Government recognises five scripts for Manipuri language. In fact, Manipuri language has only two scripts out of which only "Bengali script" is accepted in the Official Language Act of Manipur. But an innocent googler will go away with the "knowledge" that Manipuri has five scripts all recognised by the Manipur government. This is my fear. I have never claimed to be infallible; I am always subject to correction. Regards. Sebastian Borges