go pear-shaped
动词 v.
英 /ɡəʊ ˈpɛəʃeɪpt/
美 /ɡoʊ ˈpɛɚʃeɪpt/
英文释义
动词 v.
-
To go awry; to go wrong.
— After the third attack run I was letting back down to low level, passing through about 100 feet on the way down, when there were two bangs very close together. The whole aircraft shook and things went "pear-shaped" very quickly after that.
词形变化
词源
Uncertain; the following etymologies have been suggested:
* From the image of a solid rectangle “slipping down” into a pear shape, thus “the bottom drops out”.
** Similar thoughts about the work of either glassblowers or potters involve a theme of the work trending toward a sagging shape; such speculations may be only folk etymology.
* From the image of a balloon or football losing its spherical shape after being punctured.
* From an idea that people who shoulder the work — who have the responsibility on their shoulders — may descend into shirking, in which case their broad shoulders diminish as their body becomes pear-shaped.
Apparently the term was originally Royal Air Force slang, but came into common use by the 1990s.
* From the image of a solid rectangle “slipping down” into a pear shape, thus “the bottom drops out”.
** Similar thoughts about the work of either glassblowers or potters involve a theme of the work trending toward a sagging shape; such speculations may be only folk etymology.
* From the image of a balloon or football losing its spherical shape after being punctured.
* From an idea that people who shoulder the work — who have the responsibility on their shoulders — may descend into shirking, in which case their broad shoulders diminish as their body becomes pear-shaped.
Apparently the term was originally Royal Air Force slang, but came into common use by the 1990s.
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