The world is filled with many interesting places. A map helps us find them. Any place you need to find—a street address, business, famous landmark or park—is most likely on a map, which brings us to our expression: all over the map! We use this expression in several different ways.
The first way means to be spread out over a great distance. For example, years ago I drove across the country by myself. I was ①all over the map on that trip—through mountains, deserts, forests, and more. All over the map can also mean having many different kinds of something. For example, if a restaurant offers a variety of dishes from many different countries, you can say its menu is ②all over the map. Here is another example. Shanghai is a very international city. People from ③all over the map live and work together in Shanghai.
We also use the expression all over the map to mean confused or unfocused. If thinking, speaking, or planning is unorganized, we can describe it as all over the map. This expression can also describe a person. If someone is all over the map, they could be having a hard time focusing on one thing. Here’s an example. My coworker Karen led a very confusing meeting. First she talked about plans to move the company overseas. Then she switched to sales estimates(估计) for the next season and later, budget cuts. Her presentation was ④all over the map! Nobody had a clear understanding of the project.
Another project I worked on was set up to fail. The directions the designer gave to the team were all over the map. The builders did not even know where to start digging!
And that brings us to the end of this Words and Their Stories. I hope our expression was clearly explained. This is not time to be all over the map!
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