Apparently it's Aussie (ex-commonwealth-wide?) slang for "To be Misled".

''Nope. This Yank has heard the expression for decades, so it's not from Down Under, unless 'Strain influence has been felt in this country long before Midnight Oil broke out.''


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Why is the garden path so misleading, as opposed to J. Random footpath?

''I have no idea, I created this page when I came across the term on another page. Googling for a definition took a long time due to noise from gardening magazines. It ''might'' be based on a BritCom which uses the same title. The term also seems to be acceptably used as LeadDownTheGardenPath. If anyone from Oz could clear this up, you'd make at least one Yankee happy. Don't let that stop you though.''

Perhaps it is a reference to English gardens with mazes?

Up, down, whatever. You know. Let's not quibble over trivia, eh?

''It's obvious. Britons are led down the garden path, while Australians, living in the antipodes, are led '''up''' the garden path''

''And slighty to the right and left, due to the CoriolisEffect.''

''UrbanLegend.  A careful study. using ISO-standard Britons and Aussies, and sheltered gardens free of crosswinds, has shown that the CoriolisEffect does not influence the travel of either, whether going up or down the path.''

A revolutionary study indeed.

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I had always understood it to refer to the hedgerow mazes that were popular in England in the 18th and 19th centuries. But I could be wrong. 

''So did. Variant of WildGooseChase I but I am often wrong. Reminds me strongly of students at Cambridge (not me honest... well do you think I'd admit it on a US site like this?) who used to send American tourists off along the footpath to Grantchester meadows whenever they were asked where "the university" was. I guess they felt people visiting Cambridge should realise the answer was either everywhere or nowhere --AndrewCates''

A tradition that was alive and well in the US as recently as 20 years ago - my alma mater had a largce classroom building that was labelled on the campus maps, but had only one sign outside, and not very well-placed, at that.  Upperclassmen would misdirect anyone who asked them how to find that building while standing in the plaza of it.

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CategoryIdiom