Citations:turn pear-shaped

English citations of turn pear-shaped

Verb

• 1999 August 11, “Mating rituals”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 2023-01-08:

  Surely you're entitled to a little fun? AGAINST: Very little, as long as it's between consenting adults and no-one gets nasty if the whole thing turns pear-shaped.

• 2000 June 25, Judi James, “How to win at losing”, in The Guardian‎^[2], archived from the original on 2014-05-09:

  The Oscar loser's delight For facial expression techniques when that key job goes to someone else or the sales pitch turns pear-shaped look no further than Oscars night.

• 2002 October 7, Peter Preston, “One year after 10/7”, in The Guardian‎^[3], archived from the original on 2023-01-08:

  Musharraf has had himself elected presi dent in a gambit even Florida would choke on. His general elections this autumn are the usual glum farce. What the Oval office preaches for Baghdad turns pear-shaped over Rawalpindi.

• 2004 June 7, Peter Preston, “Towering he wasn't”, in The Guardian‎^[4], archived from the original on 2022-06-29:

  There was one hero of Ronnie's two terms, one really strong fellow who held everything together: but his name was Jim Baker, the brilliant political manager and mate of Vice-President George Bush, who became chief of staff when a crisis of competence threatened everything, when Donald Regan bailed out and the Oval Office turned pear-shaped.

• 2005 April 29, Bernie Mcguire In Shanghai, “Els threatens as seven share lead”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[5], archived from the original on 2016-07-06:

  Els won back-to-back events last month, capturing the Dubai Desert Classic and Qatar Masters titles, but it all turned pear-shaped at Augusta when the South African slumped to a lonely 47th placing.

• 2006 January 25, Bernard Hare, “A life in brown and white”, in The Guardian‎^[6], archived from the original on 2014-09-21:

  With the heater going full blast, Sophie and I drive to the all-night garage, and for the price of a coffee I get her life story. Happy as a child, things turned pear-shaped as she entered her teens.

• 2006 May 30, Tom Stevenson, “Business comment”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[7], archived from the original on 2016-07-07:

  Sarbanes-Oxley's central regulations, Section 404 in the deceptively bland language of the regulator, force the chief executive and finance director of a company to individually sign off accounts, with potentially calamitous personal implications if things subsequently turn pear-shaped.

• 2006 September 14, Tom Stevenson, “Business comment”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[8], archived from the original on 2016-07-07:

  Troubles come not as single spies but in battalions. In politics and business, when things start to go wrong they have a nasty habit of really turning pear-shaped.

• 2007 December 12, Simon Tisdall, “Iraq progress feeds a new nationalism”, in The Guardian‎^[9], archived from the original on 2021-06-13:

  Iraqi and American officials stress that the battle for Iraq is far from over. It could still turn pear-shaped if US troop withdrawals, commencing this month, allow the insurgents to hit back as coalition defences weaken.

• 2008 September 13, Lynne Wallis, “Broken down on a red route? Get ready to fight a fine”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[10], archived from the original on 2015-03-05:

  Lynne Wallis takes on Transport for London The day started well enough, but after lunch by the river in Greenwich with my mother, it turned pear-shaped.

• 2008 September 20, Bill Elliott, “Inspired Poulter takes fight to energised US”, in The Guardian‎^[11], archived from the original on 2015-10-01:

  Poulter especially is proving to be an inspired captain's pick for these matches and it is to his great credit that he has risen so well to an occasion that offered so much pressure with Faldo's critics seeking to use the flash Englishman to attack the skipper if things turned pear-shaped.

• 2009 April 15, Telegraph Staff, “David Beckham's LA Galaxy nightmare exposed in new book”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[12], archived from the original on 2023-01-08:

  David Beckham's unsuccessful attempt to break into the Hollywood A-list first started to turn pear-shaped when he was refused a glass of wine at a restaurant because he did not look old enough to drink.

• 2013 April 18, Krishna Andavolu, “Beyond the Mortar Fire: Sebastian Junger Remembers Tim Hetherington”, in VICE‎^[13], archived from the original on 2022-05-21:

  But things at the beer factory turn pear-shaped (probably after the rebels imbibe their share of suds), and the frantic energy of young rebels with guns transforms from showmanship to menace.

• 2013 December 3, Dick Vinegar, “The rise and fall of telehealth in 2013”, in The Guardian‎^[14], archived from the original on 2021-04-10:

  Health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, claimed that 100,000 patients across seven pathfinder areas would benefit from telehealth in 2013. However, in 2013, it all turned pear-shaped.

• 2015 July 25, Alan Smith, “Milan 1-0 Internazionale: pre-season friendly – as it happened!”, in The Guardian‎^[15], archived from the original on 2022-08-12:

  But each summer brings fresh hope, so here we are, before things turn pear-shaped and both the Rossoneri and Nerazzurri are again up in arms over their teams' failings.

• 2015 October 16, Alan Smith, “Football transfer rumours: Ilkay Gündogan to Liverpool?”, in The Guardian‎^[16], archived from the original on 2021-12-01:

  There was a sort of sad inevitability that things would threaten to turn pear-shaped and temper the excitement of Liverpool fans early on in the new manager's reign, but nobody would have thought long-term injuries to two of the few mildly-impressive performers at Anfield this season would be sustained before they even get a chance to press the Premier League's kings of pressing at White Hart Lane.

• 2016 January 6, Steven Pye, “How Christy O'Connor Jr became Europe's hero at the 1989 Ryder Cup”, in The Guardian‎^[17], archived from the original on 2022-08-22:

  Sitting in the last automatic spot before the final qualifying tournament (the Benson and Hedges International at Fulford), O'Connor was just one solid week away from booking his place at The Belfry. Unfortunately for O'Connor, things were about to turn pear-shaped.

• 2016 April 16, Alan Smith, “Rafael Nadal defeats Andy Murray in Monte Carlo Masters semi-final – as it happened!”, in The Guardian‎^[18], archived from the original on 2022-08-15:

  Murray* 0-1 Nadal (6-2): Murray is on the attack right away and Nadal, at the net, sends an uncharacteristic volley into the net. But things turn pear-shaped for the Scot at that point – a double fault giving Nadal two break points.

• 2016 May 28, Andrea Beattie, quoting Stuart Taylor, “What Small Business Can Teach The Big End Of Town About Disruption”, in HuffPost‎^[19], archived from the original on 2023-01-08:

  Unfortunately, a lot of the work we do is around trying to encourage leaders and staff in larger organisations to move away from a fear-based culture and one that is driven by 'I don't want to speak up in case I say the wrong thing' or 'what if I experiment with a new offering and it turns pear-shaped and I don't make my numbers?

• 2017 July 16, Simon Briggs,, “Time Lord Roger Federer believes he could still be playing at Wimbledon aged 40”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[20], archived from the original on 2022-07-04:

  The cruelty of tennis, though, is its relentlessness. You can't call on a substitute and you can't easily protect one part of your body or your game when things start to turn pear-shaped.

• 2017 October 12, Donna Spencer, quoting Brent McMahon, “Canadian triathletes tackle world Ironman championship”, in CBC News‎^[21], archived from the original on 2018-12-29:

  He took a five-minute penalty for drafting on the bike and, while attempting to run his way back into the lead group, his stomach rebelled and he lost minutes and energy vomiting at the side of the road. "Things turned pear-shaped real quick there," the 37-year-old recalled.

• 2018 August 10, Marina Hyde, “Antisemitism, Islamophobia – and this is just the Brexit phoney war”, in The Guardian‎^[22], archived from the original on 2022-11-28:

  We are still only in the phoney war of Brexit, after all – the period where the questions are all about who benefits. Who benefited from what even some Brexit voters such as Danny Dyer have decided is turning pear-shaped?

• 2019 September 19, Australian Associated Press, “Wallabies go with Pocock-Hooper combination for World Cup opener”, in The Guardian‎^[23], archived from the original on 2022-04-30:

  Coach Cheika insisted it was a tight call but said 31-year-old Pocock, attending his third World Cup, brings the mature qualities that might be needed if things start turning pear-shaped against a Fiji team stacked with attacking weapons.

• 2020 July 23, Steven Pye, “When West Indies condemned England's four captains to a 4-0 defeat”, in The Guardian‎^[24], archived from the original on 2022-10-24:

  From that day on, it seemed everything he touched turned pear-shaped: a 1-0 Test series defeat in Pakistan; the Shakoor Rana affair; a 0-0 stalemate in New Zealand that was as dull as it sounds.