What it means
When something goes tits up, it goes completely and often spectacularly wrong, collapsing into a mess. Blunter and more emphatic than gone pear-shaped, it is the phrase for plans that do not just wobble but properly fall over.
Usage examples
"We had it all planned and then the boiler went tits up on day one."
"The whole trip went tits up when the flights got cancelled."
"The whole launch went tits up after the website crashed and nobody could log in."
"We were halfway through moving house when the van went tits up on the motorway."
"Thought we'd smashed the presentation, then the projector went tits up five minutes in."
Where it comes from
A coarser cousin of gone pear-shaped, the image being something flipped over onto its back, belly and all, the way a dead fish or a capsized boat ends up. Once it is tits up, it is well and truly finished.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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