[Ads-l] RES: New to me: "go pear-shaped"

[Jim Parish]

David Daniel wrote:
> Brits and other non-US English speakers like to use "went pear-shaped."
> Don't know that I've ever heard it in the US, though I have noticed over the
> last ten-fifteen years or so that Britishisms have been creeping into
> US-speak.

I'm pretty sure I first encountered it in the writings of the late Terry 
Pratchett. I've seen it used since in the SFnal community, AmE and BrE 
alike. Whether that was the vector into the wider community, I don't know.

Jim Parish

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org