Take the 2-minute tour ×  What's the origin of the idiom go
south? Why is it go south only? Why not go southwest or go east?
Are the direction-related idioms go south, go north, go east,
and go west correlated?  Example, go south from
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/go+south:    • to make an
escape; to disappear.   • to fall; to go down.   • drop out of
sight  I've read a few times go east young man or go west young
man, but I am not sure that they formally exist or not.
share|improve this question I am not familiar with any of those
"directional idioms." Can you give an example with context? – 
KitFox Sep 19 '11 at 3:04 My understanding has always been that
"south" in this phrase was synonymous with "down", similar to
"go downhill". However, after a few minutes of searching, I
can't find any sources to back this up. –  daxelrod Sep 19 '11
at 3:06 worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sou1.htm –  z7sg Ѫ Sep 19 '11
at 3:22 @z7sg - informative link –  user395072 Sep 19 '11 at
3:32 I'm more likely to say something's go