go Pete Tong en · VERB
Etymology
Named after disc jockey Pete Tong, coined by Paul Oakenfold in late 1987.
Meanings
-
(Cockney, slang) To go wrong.
Things started going Pete Tong as the superficially attractive two- or three-year fixed mortgage deals ran out, interest rates went up and the housing bubble inevitably burst.
2010, Geraint Anderson, Cityboy Beer and Loathing in the Square Mile:It didn't take a brain surgeon to realize that things were obviously in danger of going Pete Tong. It was time to back off.
2008, Dan Mills, Sniper One: On Scope and Under Siege with a Sniper Team in Iraq:But when Bobby got busted, it all went Pete Tong for him.
2007, Robbie Fithon, Rainy City Players, page 95:On leaving the train at Piccadilly, everything goes 'Pete Tong'. Services are in complete disarray, as a tree has come down onto the line at Gatley.
2024 October 30, Paul Bigland, “The heat is on... and will the railway fray?”, in RAIL, number 1021, page 46:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| gone Pete Tong | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| going Pete Tong | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| went Pete Tong | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| goes Pete Tong | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic |