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

[Douglas G. Wilson]

On 5/9/2016 5:12 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> On Mon, May 9, 2016 at 2:35 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
>> On May 9, 2016, at 2:03 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>> Heard on an NCIS re-run a minute ago. About 118,000 hits. Definitions range
>>> from the OD to the UD.
>>>
>>> Clearly, I'm behind the curve, again.
>> Veddy British, no?  Has it invaded the Colonies?
> Just a bit: https://britishisms.wordpress.com/2012/11/09/go-pear-shaped/
>
--

My idle etymological speculation:

"go belly-up" ---> "go tits-up" (because certain speakers generally 
preferred the word 'tits')

---> "go pear-shaped tits up" (somewhat arbitrary elaboration for fun or 
emphasis ["pear-shaped" an old conventional adjective, I think, before 
"breasts" etc.])

---> "go pear-shaped" (abbreviated, maybe euphemistic, fun [maybe 
etymologically opaque to some 'outsiders'], conceivably from a 
reanalysis with a comma after "pear-shaped")

[My presumed elaborated form "go pear-shaped tits up" I find on the Web 
only once, and late (2015).]

I don't know whether my speculation duplicates someone else's earlier 
suggestion.

-- Doug Wilson

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