cliché: asleep at the wheel

Meaning: Inattentive or literally asleep while on duty (definition).

Example: He nearly missed his exit because he was “asleep at the wheel.”

Origins: 19^th century American railroading. (Origins.)

Rewrites:

• Dozing at the wheel
• Asleep at the keyboard
• Napping while knitting
• At rest in the guard tower
• Tuning the horn with some Z’s
• Monitoring the meter with half-open eyes
• Driving with another pair of eyes

Discussion: In this rewrite, I tried to come up with parallel idioms for the original, then I tried to recast it a little to approach the idea with similar metaphors.