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Dead to rights

Dead to Rights

dead to rights. In the act of committing an error or crime, red-handed. For example, They caught the burglars dead to rights with the Oriental rugs. This phrase uses to rights in the sense of “at once.” [ Slang; mid-1800s]

Etymology. US, 1854, originally New York City criminal slang, thence entered general use. dead (“completely, utterly”) + to rights (“properly”).

Dead to Rights

Dead to Rights – Video Game

Dead to Rights is a video game series focusing on Jack Slate, a police officer in the fictional Grant City, and his K-9 partner Shadow. There are four games in the series.

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Monty Python Playlist

Monty Python and The Flying Circus

Monty Python were a British surreal comedy group who created their sketch comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact, including touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books, and musicals.

The Pythons’ influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles’ influence on music. Their sketch show has been referred to as “not only one of the more enduring icons of 1970s British popular culture, but also an important moment in the evolution of television comedy”.

Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin
Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin

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Off the rails

Brooklyn rails

 

transport idioms
transport idioms

off the rails. (idiomatic) In an abnormal manner, especially in a manner that causes damage or malfunctioning. (idiomatic) Insane. (idiomatic) Off the intended path. (idiomatic) Out of control.

train wreck
train wreck

Used figuratively for thinness from 1872. To be “off the rails” in a figurative sense is from 1848, an image from the railroads. In U.S. use, “A piece of timber, cleft, hewed, or sawed, inserted in upright posts for fencing” [Webster, 1830].

off the rails by Patrick Corrigan
off the rails by Patrick Corrigan

In an abnormal or malfunctioning condition, as in “Her political campaign has been off the rails for months”. The phrase occurs commonly with go, as in “Once the superintendent resigned, the effort to reform the school system went off the rails”. This idiom alludes to the rails on which trains run; if a train goes off the rails, it stops or crashes. [Mid-1800s]

sources: Google, Wiktionary, Cambridge English