monkey-button

To incorrectly button or zip a shirt or sweater. Generally creates a kind of strange lopsidedness where the collar of a shirt doesn’t line up properly.

Usage: “It looks like you monkey-buttoned your shirt.”

I had never heard this phrase before this week when co-worker wore a stylish sweater which looked as if it might have been monkey-buttoned, but wasn’t. I used to have to have monkey-buttoning problems a lot as a child. I’ve mostly grown out of monkey-buttoning, but it still happens sometimes.