Balderdash & Piffle

[sagehen]

 From Damien Hall:
>*pear-shaped*: antedatings not accepted because they did not refer clearly to
> something going wrong but to things that could actually have had the literal
>shape of a pear (balloons)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
While this expression is familiar to me from British literature, I've never
heard it used by an American, and wouldn't be likely to use it myself.  I
think I've usually realized from context that it meant  "something going
wrong" , but it never occurred to me that it could have that meaning in
relation to "pear-shaped tones," which I have always interpreted as
complimentary, not critically disparaging.  Now I wonder!  Perhaps it's
only  in the construction   "*going* pear-shaped" that its negativity
resides?
A. Murie

~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>