lose the plot | Idiomator

Meaning: (UK,idiomatic,colloquial)Toceasetobehavein aconsistentorrationalmanner.1995,Nick Hornby,High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz,→ISBN,page25:Ilost the plotfor a while then. And I lost the subplot, the script, the soundtrack, the intermission, my popcorn, the credits and the exit sign.2004, Ron Phillips,The Travels of Plymouth: A Fable for Our Time,page202:Right then Ilost the plot. I did, man, I went over the edge.2007, Caryl Wyatt, Anita Le Roux,Look Me in the Eye: Caryl's Story,page28:Finally, Ilost the plot. I got into my car and drove to the police station.2010, Jackie Hall,The Happy Mum Handbook,page102:Apologise forlosing the plotand explain what made you react the way you did.; (UK,idiomatic,colloquial)Tolosesightof animportantobjectiveorprinciple; to actcontrarilyto one's ownintereststhroughconcentratingonrelativelyunimportantmatters.1995, John Frank Williams,The Quarantined Culture: Australian Reactions to Modernism, 1913–1939,page219:But while there remains a considerable degree of consensus that the consequence of apparentlylosing the plotsometime between 1914 and 1918 was the cultural and economic malaise of the 1920s and 1930s, there are still some who look back on the interwar years less with criticism than with nostalgia.2007, Colin James Isbister,The Body of Christ,page99:Because of this it seems to me that we have somehowlost the plotand we're in desperate need of balance. The idea of Protestant ministers touching the body of Christ (the bread) with great love and tenderness like the priest described is almost incomprehensible.2011,House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs,2nd Report of Session 2010-11: Auditors: Market Concentration and Their Role, Volume II: Evidence,page 19,[Professor Fearnley:] If I can perhaps be a little unkind about my profession — which is fair enough I suppose — I think the accountancy profession, along with other professions,loses the plotfrom time to time and has to be pulled back from what it was doing before.; Used other than figuratively or idiomatically:seelose,‎plot.2005Winter, Alan Palmer, “Intermental Thought in the Novel: The Middlemarch Mind.”, inStyle, volume39, number 4, page427:Readers enter the storyworlds of novels and then follow the logic of the events that occur in them primarily by attempting to reconstruct the fictional minds of the characters in that storyworld. Otherwise, readerslose the plot.

Examples:

EN: I'm gonna blow steam out of my head like a screaming kettle. I'm gonna talk codshit to strangers all night. I'm gonna lose the plot on the dance floor.
ES: Voy a fumar hasta que me salga el humo por las orejas, voy a decir paridas a extraños durante toda la noche, voy a perder el hilo en la pista de baile.
EN: Frankly, I think he's started to lose the plot.
ES: Creo que se le está zafando un tornillo.
EN: I'm going to make him lose the plot.
ES: ¡Lo voy a volver loco!
EN: And I lose the plot.
ES: Y pierdo el rumbo.
EN: Then Willow started to... ..lose the plot.
ES: Entonces Willow comenzó a ... perder el rumbo.
EN: Let's not lose the plot.
ES: No perdamos la cabeza.
EN: If you don't do something quick, we'll lose the plot.
ES: Si no hacemos algo rápido perderemos
EN: Because if it weren't drugs or alcohol, what else would have made you lose the plot like that?
ES: Porque si no fueran las drogas o el alcohol, ¿Qué te hizo perder el complot de esa manera?
EN: Try not to lose the plot just yet, Dunphy.
ES: Intenta no perder el hilo todavía, Dunphy.
EN: Sometimes in life, you can lose the plot.
ES: A veces en la vida, puedes perder la trama.
EN: Kelly kind of did lose the plot a little bit, but he came back in the biggest way ever.
ES: Benji: Kelly hizo perder la trama un poquito, pero regresó de la manera más grande que jamás haya existido.
EN: But let's not lose the plot, there are only three left.
ES: No nos pongamos estupendas, que solo nos quedan tres.
EN: A girl pops up, you lose the plot and we don't recognize you.
ES: Se te cruza una chavala, te sale el colmillo y no conoces.
EN: It's okay to lose the plot.
ES: No pasa nada por perder la cabeza.
EN: So he was disappointed, but for us, the challenge was to make sure he didn't lose the plot."
HI: इसलिए वह असंतुष्ट था, लेकिन हमारे लिए समस्या यह सुनिश्चित करने की थी कि वह कथा को न खोए।

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