op tilt

Referring to the message "tilt" (borrowed from English tilt) displayed on pinball machines when the machine was handled too roughly, causing the mechanism to shut down.

op tilt

1. gone haywire (behaving erratically or uncontrollably)

   Precies toen ik een belangrijke email moest sturen, is mijn computer op tilt geslagen.

   Exactly when I had to send an important email, my computer went haywire.

• Usually used with the verb slaan, but also with raken, springen, or staan.

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “tilt”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute