I can put that as wading in the darkness, being totally lost or taking a shot and missing big. However, I'm looking for a far more metaphorical expression.
The subject of the epithet should be assumed to have stated an opinion or attempted an action of a very well defined aim. For instance:
– "You can say your home or you're home – it doesn't matter which because we get your point."
or
A shooter trying to erase all the data in a computer by shooting the screen.
In the local language, we say they're out bicycling and it means just what the above expression do but unless the interlocutor can infer the meaning from the context (or knows it from elsewhere), they'd have little chance of getting it right and any guess in that regard would be, well… being out bicycling… (tiny whoohoo-wave for the circular reference).
Best Answer
Consider,
out in left field Ngram
Random House