go west
to be lost or destroyed
TRANSLATION
go west = über den Jordan gehen, draufgehen --- GOOGLE INDEX go west: approximately 70,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
I imagine my initial investment has GONE WEST for good.
(www.themoneybag.com)
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Unless the hard drive in the old PC has GONE WEST, it's easy to recover any data stored on it.
(www.planetrock.co.uk)
(www.themoneybag.com)
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Unless the hard drive in the old PC has GONE WEST, it's easy to recover any data stored on it.
(www.planetrock.co.uk)
Did you
know?
go west
idiom
- if something goes west, it is lost, damaged or spoilt in some way
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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WORD ORIGIN
The phrase "go west" has two meanings, which in one sense are complete opposites. In 1851, New York Tribune editor Horace Greely used the term when the California Gold Rush was attracting a lot of attention to the potential riches in the western part of the United States. What Greely actually wrote was "Go west, young man, and grow with the country."
This was an appeal to people in the relatively heavily populated cities of the eastern United States to move to the west to help the country grow and prosper. Although Greely is generally credited with the phrase, he often said that John Soule, a journalist with a newspaper in the state of Indiana, created the expression.
The other meaning - to die - was common in World War I, but is thought to be many centuries older. It stems from the legend believed by many Native American Indian tribes and by primitive civilizations around the world that each day is newly born in the east and dies in the west. Thus the "land of the setting sun" - the west - is where a person goes to die.
Let's head another direction for a moment and talk about "south." If something is heading south, it is on the decline. If something goes or has gone south, then it has failed.
(sources: Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins)
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"Can you please call the service department, the copier has gone west again."
idiom
- if something goes west, it is lost, damaged or spoilt in some way
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
WORD ORIGIN
The phrase "go west" has two meanings, which in one sense are complete opposites. In 1851, New York Tribune editor Horace Greely used the term when the California Gold Rush was attracting a lot of attention to the potential riches in the western part of the United States. What Greely actually wrote was "Go west, young man, and grow with the country."
This was an appeal to people in the relatively heavily populated cities of the eastern United States to move to the west to help the country grow and prosper. Although Greely is generally credited with the phrase, he often said that John Soule, a journalist with a newspaper in the state of Indiana, created the expression.
The other meaning - to die - was common in World War I, but is thought to be many centuries older. It stems from the legend believed by many Native American Indian tribes and by primitive civilizations around the world that each day is newly born in the east and dies in the west. Thus the "land of the setting sun" - the west - is where a person goes to die.
Let's head another direction for a moment and talk about "south." If something is heading south, it is on the decline. If something goes or has gone south, then it has failed.
(sources: Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins)
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"Can you please call the service department, the copier has gone west again."
