# Pear-Shaped **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 26, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627 "2005-05-26T17:16:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/1 "2005-05-26T17:16:22Z")
This is one of the finest metaphors (it is a metaphor, right?) in the English lexicon, hands down. Anytime something is described as having “gone all pear-shaped” it paints such the vivid, yet whimsically comic, picture of how the events in consideration turned out. Just lovely. I will be using this phrase at least once today in conversation. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/2 "2005-05-26T17:19:14Z")
It’s used for something other than asses? Honestly, I did not know that. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/3 "2005-05-26T17:20:04Z")
You know, I don’t believe I’ve heard the phrase used to describe anything other than a body type (fat on the bottom, small on the top). Can you use it your way in a sentence, please? ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/4 "2005-05-26T17:23:06Z")
Instead of manufacturing a situation which would lack the authenticity to truly illustrate my point, I’ll c/p this quote from another thread which does it justice. > [@Myler Keogh](#): > > The front shock on my bike is messed up. Its compressing way too easy, losing about 80% of travel then firming up before bottoming out. Rode it through a technical rock garden yesterday evening and it was miserable, no control whatosever on rocky drop -offs, capped off with me stacking it and twatting my knee on a rock. :mad: > > The funny thing is that the air pressure in the shock is bang on, 170psi which is perfect for a rider of my weight. So whats going on? > > The most likely explanation is that the air piston is out of position and needs resetting. Trouble is, thats a job for a shop as an unusual castle tool is required that I don’t have, or know how to use even if I did have it. I hate putting the ride into the shop, they’re good wrenches but they don’t ride leftys so don’t have a real intuitive grasp on their performance. > > \*\*Before things went pear-shaped \*\*the shock was exceptional, probably the best XC medium travel shock on the market (had to get some bragging in!). Literary brilliance. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/5 "2005-05-26T17:31:18Z")
Ah, so slumping, disheveled, out of order? Strange, for butts it’s a good thing. _I tilt my glass To the lovely little lass That I saw in mass With the pear-shaped ass_ Yes, that’s “in” and not “en”. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/6 "2005-05-26T17:34:07Z")
I’ve never heard (or read) it used in America. It seems tio be a British thing. (I don’t know about other English-speaking countries). Here it almost invariably means literally “shaped like a pear”, and has no connotations of things going awry. Although I suspect that the British idion is beginning to sink in through osmosis. British expressions and euphemisms are so much cleaner and more interesting than American ones. Some American equivalents to “going pear-shaped” are gross, or downright obscene. It’ s like “dustbin” instead of “garbage can”. A Garbage can is cylindrical and probably misshapen, and can have coffee grounds in it, and rotting vegetables, and used cleaning rags. But a “dustbin” is a “bin”. And all it has in it is nice clean “dust”. I’ll take a binful of dust over a can full of garbage anyday. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/7 "2005-05-26T17:44:00Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > British expressions and euphemisms are so much cleaner and more interesting than American ones. Some American equivalents to “going pear-shaped” are gross, or downright obscene. Pear-shaped == FUBAR But cleverer and giggle inducing. ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/8 "2005-05-26T17:49:22Z")
The mental picture I get is of a sphere that begins to lose it’s integrity and then gravity draws it down…hence pear shaped, or having “gone south” or something like that. **crickets** Nevermind, carry on. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/9 "2005-05-26T17:54:06Z")
> [@Tupug Anachi](#): > > The mental picture I get is of a sphere that begins to lose it’s integrity and then gravity draws it down…hence pear shaped, or having “gone south” or something like that. > > **crickets** > > Nevermind, carry on. :rolleyes: Ooo, terrific. I like this. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/10 "2005-05-26T18:01:58Z")
I use “pear-shaped” all the time. Of course, I’m also a bit of a fan of British slang, and I tend to use it just because I can. That and it baffles my students. It’s a win-win. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/11 "2005-05-26T18:19:41Z")
Count me as a reluctant-to-admit admirer of british-isms. In the same vein as “dust bin”, when in a grocery store, a “carriage” is so much nicer to push than a shopping cart. Sometimes “Cloth eared bint”, “pilik” and “tosser” are so much more appropriate and discriptive than anything commonly north american. Mostly because it’s less often heard and vaguely funny without being completely obvious in meaning. 'Cept the last of course. Also, cockney slang is fun from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/12 "2005-05-26T18:33:08Z")
Thank you! I came across that term in a book this week and I’d forgotten I wanted to look it up. I’m going to start using that expression. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/13 "2005-05-26T18:41:08Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Sometimes “Cloth eared bint”, “ **pilik** ” and “tosser” are so much more appropriate and discriptive than anything commonly north american. Unless I am totally mistaken (and it wouldn’t be the first time by a long shot), I think you mean “pillock.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/14 "2005-05-26T18:52:04Z")
> [@UrbanChic](#): > > You know, I don’t believe I’ve heard the phrase used to describe anything other than a body type (fat on the bottom, small on the top). > > Can you use it your way in a sentence, please? It’s a [Gem cut](http://www.myjewelrysource.com/images/tanzanite_rings/gr7045-tanzanite-diamond-rings.jpg) and was one of the villians in [Dick Tracy’s Rogues Gallery](http://www.comicspage.com/dicktracy/dick_villain7.html) ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/15 "2005-05-26T19:27:33Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Unless I am totally mistaken (and it wouldn’t be the first time by a long shot), I think you mean “pillock.” 😃 Thanks. Glad I could serve to illustrate the term. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/16 "2005-05-26T19:40:23Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > It’s used for something other than asses? Honestly, I did not know that. Does anyone find **lieu** ’s myopicness in this regard surprising? ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/17 "2005-05-26T19:48:29Z")
Why, I used this myself, just last night! What a coinkydinky! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/18 "2005-05-26T20:25:50Z")
Years back I’d read an author’s description of a brief encounter he’d had with a passing girl. He described her many exceptional features, including that she had a “pear-shaped ass that was something to behold.” That visual stuck with me and I think I might have even seen the same rear a couple of times myself over the years. Like you though, **Omniscient** , I reckon it’s expanded designation and usage would be most tolerable. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/19 "2005-05-26T20:32:47Z")
I’d like to be the first to admit that my familiarity with the phrase is mostly through Terry Pratchett and Discworld… ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627/20 "2005-05-26T20:49:54Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > In the same vein as “dust bin”, when in a grocery store, a “carriage” is so much nicer to push than a shopping cart. When I think “carriage” I think “horse-drawn…” Now you’ve got me picturing horses pulling shopping carts through the store aisles. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pear-shaped/305627.md?page=2)