IdiomDaily LifeItalian

perdere il filo

Meaning: To lose one's train of thought or become confused about a subject during conversation or explanation.

Literally: To lose the thread

Example: “Con tutte quelle interruzioni ho perso il filo.” — With all those interruptions, I lost my train of thought.

English equivalent: To lose one's train of thought

Origin: The filo (thread) is the line of an argument, which a speaker follows as one follows a thread through a maze. Losing it is losing one's train of thought; the Hoepli dictionary records the fuller perdere il filo del discorso.

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