# Everything's gone pear-shaped **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2004, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-gone-pear-shaped/240808 "2004-04-19T12:30:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skijumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3e96dc/32.png) [@Skijumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skijumper)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-gone-pear-shaped/240808/1 "2004-04-19T12:30:56Z")
What’s the origin of this phrase? ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-gone-pear-shaped/240808/2 "2004-04-19T12:45:18Z")
[The Word Detective](http://www.word-detective.com/081203.html) offers up some explanation about airplanes. I don’t use the expression mainly because it just doesn’t sound like it fits the context of the sentence. Now that I see this goofy airplane explanation, I feel vindicated. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-gone-pear-shaped/240808/3 "2004-04-19T13:08:23Z")
The only other explanation I have seen also relates to 1940s RAF slang. It was supposedly an ironic allusion to the remodelled shape of an aircraft after it had crashed nose-first into the ground. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-gone-pear-shaped/240808/4 "2004-04-19T13:09:13Z")
WAG: You marry her when she’s 21, slim waisted and top heavy… 20 years later…‘Everything’s gone pear shaped’ ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-gone-pear-shaped/240808/5 "2004-05-26T19:57:53Z")
> [@Attrayant](#): > > [The Word Detective](http://www.word-detective.com/081203.html) offers up some explanation about airplanes. I don’t use the expression mainly because it just doesn’t sound like it fits the context of the sentence. Now that I see this goofy airplane explanation, I feel vindicated. Thanks for the **Word Detective** link; I didn’t think to try there, but I should have. That may be the best I’m going to get. Thanks, all, RR ---
**Author:** ![InvidiousCourgette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@InvidiousCourgette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InvidiousCourgette)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-gone-pear-shaped/240808/6 "2004-05-26T20:08:21Z")
there is a very similar thread that you have posted recently: > **["Pear-Shaped?"](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=258306)** > > This is YAPOQ\*: What is the origin of “pear-shaped” as used to denote something having gone disastrously wrong? It is easy enough to understand certain other phrases – i.e., “the wheels fell off” – but pear-shaped? urbandictionary.com has this... ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everythings-gone-pear-shaped/240808/7 "2004-05-26T20:50:17Z")
> [@InvidiousCourgette](#): > > there is a very similar thread that you have posted recently: Hmmm…would a courgette gone pear-shaped be a butternut squash?