go country

English

Verb

go country (third-person singular simple present goes country, present participle going country, simple past went country, past participle gone country)

2. (especially US, Canada) To adopt or further embrace the culture of country life or country music.

   Coordinate term: go Hollywood

   • 1994, Bob McDill (lyrics and music), “Gone Country”, in Who I Am, performed by Alan Jackson:

     He's gone country
     Everybody's gone country
     Yeah, we've gone country
     The whole world's gone country

4. (UK, slang) To take part in a county line scheme for drug distribution.

   Alternative form: go cunch (clipping)

   • 2016, Allegra Stratton, 'Going country': ITV News reveals scale of children being exploited and sent around Britain to carry drugs (ITV News) [1]

     Experts think many of the children who go missing every year in this country may have actually have "gone country". In one London borough, Lewisham, the local authority believes half of its missing children have been groomed to carry drugs.

   • 2022, Steve Swann, County lines: Inside the complex battle against drug gangs exploiting children‎^[2], BBC News:

     For five days "I didn't know if he was alive", says Jenny. Then she saw on a social media chat group Robbie's friends saying he had "gone country". She discovered it was a phrase often used to describe county lines. "That's when it all clicked," she says, realising he was in an organised crime gang.