English, baby!

go south

Date: Jul 27 2006

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

“Once things started to go south, it was easy for players to become selfish.”

NBA player Michael Olowokandi, talking about his experience with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

when a situation deteriorates or gets worse; when things start falling apart

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

When a situation starts to go bad, you can say that it’s starting to go south. For example, when a husband and wife file for divorce, it’s usually because their relationship went south.

In a situation that requires teamwork, it’s important for everyone to be one the same page and working together to achieve their goals. In the example above, Michael Olowokandi is saying that when the players stopped working as a team on the basketball court, they started to act selfishly, causing the team to lose games. Winning requires teamwork, and you can’t win if the condition of your team goes south.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

“Our relationship really started to go south when I started this new job. I had to work so much that we couldn’t spend time together.”

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

	as expected, to go good by kamileka
	to go wrong by jgangwar
	to go south means to be out of control. by thuhuong
	Slide away. by sc03209
	when a situation becomes worse by rayne
	complicated by kai_ng1
	Deteriorate or decline;to fall or slide down by yorzi
	go to extremes; have strong desire to win the game. by Vivian Jones
	become unfavorable to someone by love212
	I think go south mean that in the game,the ball is aproach to the goal. by 安琪儿
	"To go south" means a situation turns for the worse. When you look at a map, south is at the bottom. So, in the NBA situation, it would indicate that the team is on a losing streak. by brucemac38
	It means that things started to "become bad" or "go wrong". by glauce_gama2006
	the game will over soon by bailey
	become serious by Kariz
	to disappear by Helga
	go (or head) south meaning the situation goes bad. When people go south, they disappoint you in some way; when the stock market goes south, you lose money; when an athlete goes south, he or she may be in a slump; and when computer hardware and software go south, they die by monicalo
	become famous and important people in team by freetofly_th