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Reader question: Please explain this sentence, particularly "drives me to distraction": "Anyone who doesn't wear a facial mask drives me to distraction." My comments: I can imagine someone guarding the gate to a residential area saying this. These days, in an attempt to fight the spread of the coronavirus, all people are advised to wear facial masks. And those who don't understandably draw the ire of guards - and folks in general. If you don't wear a mask in a crowd or any public place, you make others nervous and emotional, I mean, annoyed, angry, confused, disturbed, exasperated, mad or at any rate very upset. That's what driving someone to distraction means. A distraction is something that draws your attention away from what you're doing or supposed to be doing at the moment. To be driven to distraction means you lose your focus and won't be able to continue doing what you've been doing. A pretty girl new to the classroom, for example, drives many boys to distraction. They no longer can concentrate on the teacher. They keep stealing timorous glances at the pretty girl. That's a good distraction to have, I hear you say. Sure, but many far more negative emotions are aroused, as is the case in our example. Someone refusing to wear a mask in a crowd puts themselves and possibly other people in harm's way and that makes people unsettled and angry. | 
