to go south
53
7.5
- phrasal verb
- Informal
- The project was on track, but once the budget cuts came, everything went south.
- things go south
- start to go south
- keep it from going south
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Watch on YouTubeAnd they said if things go South, this person's here.
- And they said if things go South, this person's here.
- With Bank On Yourself, your plan doesn't go South when the markets tumble.
- And we're just like this is going South pretty quickly.
- With Bank On Yourself, your plan doesn't go South whenever the markets tumble.
- It, it creates this bond that when things go South, man, it's unbreakable.
- But if things go South, you can lose all your money.
- You know, like, that's when things start going South.
- Because it can be really risky if and when things go South.
- I've lost millions flipping over the years because deals go South.
- So at least if you do decide to stick around and help them, and it does go South again, that at least you don't blame yourself.
- Matt, you're saying that like Colts, they start off like fun and then they just go South real quick.
- And, you know, deep inside, if I address this red flag, this is going to go South.
Examples
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Got a bad feeling about this, things are going south.
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But if things go South, you can lose all your money.
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And we're just like this is going South pretty quickly.
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And hope is a dangerous thing since it is likely to go South really fast.
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We had a plan in case things went south.
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This whole thing could go south.
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My guess is if things go south, which they will, he'll sing another song.
Blog text (23) -
Of course, as we all know, 2008 was the year the global economy went south in a major way.
Blog text (33) -
I thought the first two movies were classics; then it went south quickly.
Blog text (17) -
You can't roll over and die every time something goes south.
Synonyms
656
2.4
To fail or happen in a bad way
Head toward failure with no chance of a good outcome
Antonyms
How Well
Surface Forms
Morphology
go + south
The phrase combines the literal motion verb 'go' with the direction 'south', so learners who know both words can infer a spatial movement; however the specific evaluative sense 'to decline or get worse' is a metaphorical extension (south = worse) that is not fully predictable from the parts. This directional→negative mapping is somewhat conventionalized but informal and language-specific, so a B1 learner may only partially infer the meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Go south may come from the simple image of a map, where south is shown at the bottom. When a line or number on a chart moves down, it looks worse, so to go south means to 'decline' or 'get worse'.