asleep at the wheel

not paying attention asleep at the switch Why was our government asleep at the wheel when the crisis began?

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of asleep at the wheel (sleeping while driving a vehicle)

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Eloise	EL-o-eez, el-o-EEZ	English
Thaleia	-	Greek Mythology
Brooke	BRUWK	English
Keely	['ki:li]
Jung	jung	Korean
Vera (1)	VYE-rah (Russian), VEER-ə (English), VER-ə (English)	Russian, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian