right意思是「正確的",church是「教堂」,wrong是「錯誤的」,pew則是「座位」。此語也可指「進對房,上錯床"(right house,wrong bed),表示就算做事的方向大致正確,還是因為一些錯誤而偏離正確軌道。
例如這段對話:
A I think the writer of this book is in the right church,wrong pew.
B I like the ideas,but it seems like topic does not have so much relevance to the content.
A 我覺得這本書的作者沒抓對重點。
B 我喜歡裡面的想法,但看起來,主題跟內容並沒有太大的關聯。
表示一個人神經大條,弄錯重點,還可以這樣表達:
right house,wrong bed偏離主題
Petty's dissertation is in the right house,wrong bed.I am afraid she has to start over again.
佩蒂的論文有點偏離主題,我想她必須要再重新寫一次。