get one's wires crossed

English

Etymology

From the early days of telephony, when touching wires could reroute conversations.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

get one's wires crossed (third-person singular simple present gets one's wires crossed, present participle getting one's wires crossed, simple past got one's wires crossed, past participle (UK) got one's wires crossed or (US) gotten one's wires crossed)

1. (intransitive, idiomatic) To get confused or mixed up about another person's intentions; to misunderstand one another.

   We got our wires crossed so I went to the bus station and she headed to the railway station.

   • 1949 November, “Chess Caviar”, in Chess Review:

     "TELEPHONE MATCH, 1949. White gets his wires crossed from trying to call on two variations at once and picks the wrong number in Black who cuts him off short."

Related terms

• crossed wires

Translations

to misunderstand one another

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雞同鴨講／鸡同鸭讲 (zh) (jītóngyājiǎng)

• Finnish: käydä väärinkäsitys (subject in adessive)
• French: avoir un malentendu (fr), s’emmêler les pinceaux (fr)
• German: einander missverstehen (de), an einander vorbeireden (de)
• Russian: не так поня́ть друг дру́га pf (ne tak ponjátʹ drug drúga)
• Spanish: cruzársele los cables (es) (a alguien)
• Turkish: yanlış ^{(please verify)} anlamak (tr)