Let's Talk about 'Going South'

Let's Talk about 'Going South'

And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.

Today, we talk about those times when things do not go as planned. All the planning in the world does not guarantee that your plans will happen the way you had planned.

Things can happen that are outside of your control. To talk about those times when things go awry, American English has two directional expressions: go south and go sideways.

To go south

Let’s start with go south. If something goes south, it stops working or falls apart. It can also mean that something decreases in value or loses quality. We often use it to describe a situation where everything has gone wrong.

If your career goes south, you need to look for a new job. If your new computer goes south, it stops working. If a relationship goes south, the two people are heading toward a breakup.

And if a trip goes south, one bad thing after another happens. You miss your plane, your passport gets stolen, and the hotel loses your reservation. That makes for a vacation that has gone south.

Now, let’s hear two friends use this expression.

A: So, how is your friend’s new bakery doing? She opened it earlier this year, right?

B: She did. But then she ran into trouble. Her investor pulled out. And then her head baker quit. So, her business went south pretty quickly after that.

A: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. But I’m not surprised. You need a lot of money up front to start a business. And for a bakery … you definitely need a baker.

B: Well it didn’t help that another bakery with lower prices opened down the street. Her business was bound to go south after that.

To go sidesways

Sideways is another direction you don’t want your projects or efforts to go. As a direction word, sideways means to go to either side – not forward or backward.

As an idiomatic expression, to go sideways also means things do not go as planned. But this expression can be used a little differently from going south. Often when things go sideways, they go wrong in strange ways. In other words, things get weird.

Sometimes you want things to go sideways. For example, a good story often goes sideways. You think it’s going to go in one direction but then there is a plot twist. Situations change and the story goes in an unexpected direction. Used this way, going sideways is a good thing.

But what about on a family camping trip? Let’s hear this expression used in that situation.

A: How was your family camping trip?

B: It was okay. But some really strange things happened. Nature things...

A: Tell me more. What happened?

B: Well, the first night a raccoon stole all my food. The second night while I slept, spiders spun webs all over my tent while I slept. And then on the third day while I was swimming in the lake, a fish bit me!

A: That IS a lot of weird nature stuff. I didn’t even know fish could bite.

B: Me neither! But I guess on a camping trip that’s gone sideways … anything is possible!

And that’s the end of this Words and Their Stories.

Until next time, I’m Anna Matteo.

Anna Matteo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

awry -adv. off the correct or expected course

breakup -n. to end a romance

reservation -n. an arrangement to have something (as a motel room or a seat on a plane) held for one's use

sideways -adj. or -adv. from one side viewed the stage sideways : with one side forward turn sideways : to one side

idiomatic -adj. of, relating to, or conforming to idiom -n. an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but must be learned as a whole

weird -adj. very unusual or strange

plot twist – n. a writing device that introduces a big change in the direction or expected outcome of the plot in a story

We want to hear from you. Do you have similar expressions in your language? In the Comments section, you can also practice using any of the expressions from the story. Our comment policy is here.