go Pete Tong

verb

To go wrong.

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Meanings

verbgo Pete Tong (third-person singular simple present goes Pete Tong, present participle going Pete Tong, simple past went Pete Tong, past participle gone Pete Tong)

present singular third person goes Pete Tong · participle present going Pete Tong · past went Pete Tong · participle past gone Pete Tong

  1. CockneyslangTo go wrong.

    But when Bobby got busted, it all went Pete Tong for him.

    2007, Robbie Fithon, Rainy City Players, page 95
    3 more examples

    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

    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

    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

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
go pear-shaped

Origin

Named after disc jockey Pete Tong, coined by Paul Oakenfold in late 1987.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

go Pete Tong. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20Pete%20Tong

MLA

“go Pete Tong.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20Pete%20Tong. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “go Pete Tong,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20Pete%20Tong.

Source: go Pete Tong on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.