<\/p>
The poor pear. It may be a delicious fruit, but its distinctive shape has become regularly used as a criticism or fault. When a plan goes horribly wrong, it said to have gone \u2018pear-shaped\u2019.<\/p>\n
As there are many occasions when a pear-shaped result wasn\u2019t intended or wanted, there are many stories vying for the origins of the expression. In glassblowing, for one, a perfectly spherical vessel can be ruined if the glass is overheated. This makes the shape of the blown glass change as it cools, leaving a pear-shaped container.<\/p>\n
Likewise, overly fast turning on a potter\u2019s wheel could distort the shape of a circular bowl or vase into a pear-shaped one.<\/p>\n
But the phrase really took off in popularity in the 1940s \u2013 in the 1940 film My Little Chickadee<\/em> starring WC Fields and Mae West, the line, \u201cI have some very definite pear-shaped ideas\u201d appears \u2013 which gives a clue as to where it came from.<\/p>\n One of the manoeuvres trainee pilots in the Royal Air Force<\/a> had to master, in preparation for fighting in WW2<\/a>, was the loop de loop. It was a difficult aerial trick and most inexperienced pilots would not keep a perfect circle all the way round but would level off at the bottom of the loop.<\/p>\n The loop de loop would have a distorted outline, much to the pilot\u2019s frustration who would have to land and bare the insults from his friends that his attempt went all pear-shaped.<\/p>\nWhat to read more about this history of popular sayings?<\/h4>\n