be caught on the hop

To be caught unawares or in a state of unpreparedness. Please forgive my distracted attention—I'm afraid I was caught on the hop by your sudden arrival. Terry hadn't prepared anything to say at the reception, so he was caught on the hop a bit when they asked me to say a few words.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Basemath	-	Biblical, Biblical Latin
Narelle	-	English (Australian)
Raven	['rævən]
Subramaniam	-	Tamil
Peg	PEG	English
Whaley	['hweili]