Definition
“Cock something up” is a phrasal verb that is used in British English which means to do something wrong or badly.
For example – “I cocked up the holiday by booking a hotel on the wrong date.”
There is also the noun “cock-up” which means something done wrong or badly.
For example – “His speech was a complete cock-up.”
Clip 1
The first clip is from the James Bond movie Skyfall and the context of the scene is James Bond’s ability as an agent is being questioned when he returns to MI6 after being presumed dead for a long time. It is eventually agreed that James Bond can return to work as an agent but the character who approaches Bond in the clip has doubts about the agent’s ability to perform well on missions. He walks up to Bond and wishes him good luck about the mission and tells him “Don’t cock it up”. Therefore, he is telling James Bond to not perform badly on the mission.
Clip 2
The second clip is from the TV show Pennyworth and the main character is referring to the death of one of his friends. He mentions that he feels culpable because of his reckless actions during an attempt to retrieve stolen money which then resulted in his friend’s death. So, he describes the situation as his fault and that he “cocked it up.”
Clip 3
The third clip is from a post-match analysis of Manchester United’s defeat to Newcastle on the 6th of October 2019. Gary Neville is the pundit who is talking in the clip and he is blaming the owners of the football club and their recruitment policy for the recent poor results which is why he says “They’ve cocked it up.”
Clip 4
The fourth clip is from the BBC political panel show Question Time. The panelist Chris Patten is talking about the UK government attempting to prevent WhatsApp messages between politicians from being used in an inquiry into their handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He believes that the government doesn’t have the legal right to do this which is why he says they have slightly cocked this situation up.
Clip 5
Radio presenter Sangita Myska discusses the 13 years the Conservative Party has governed the UK and specifically how badly they have run the national health service in Britain for this amount of time. This is why she says “Unfortunately for us, we’ve had 13 years of them cocking it up.”