Pear - shaped - wikipedia Pear - shaped Pear A European pear, also known as the common pear. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( October 2010 ) Pear - shaped is a metaphorical term with several meanings, all in reference to the shape of a ( European ) pear, i.e. tapering towards the top. Contents 1 Body shape 2 Voice 3 Failure 4 Gallery 5 References 6 External links Body shape The comparison is more or less literal when the term is applied to people, where it means narrow at the shoulders and wide at the hips, a use that goes back to at least 1815, and one that can have either positive connotations ( as in Venus figurines ) or negative, depending upon the context. Voice In the 20th century, another, more abstract use of the term evolved. When said of someone 's voice, `` pear - shaped '' means rich and sonorous. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED ) dates this use to 1925. Failure The third meaning is mostly limited to the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa and Australasia. It describes a situation that went awry, perhaps horribly wrong. A failed bank robbery, for example, could be said to have `` gone pear - shaped ''. The origin for this use of the term is in dispute. The OED cites its origin as within the Royal Air Force as a cleaned - up alternative version of its phrase `` tits - up '' meaning completely broken or dead ; as of 2003 the earliest citation there is a quote in the 1983 book Air War South Atlantic. Gallery The pear - shaped fruit of the cashew Pear - shaped - pear croustade Pear - shaped jar from the Greek island Milos ( formerly known as Melos ) Inflated party balloons References Jump up ^ Jeffrey L. Ethell, Alfred Price ( 1983 ). Air War South Atlantic. Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0 - 283 - 99035 - X. External links Look up go pear - shaped in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pear - shaped food. OED 's entry for the term ( Internet Archive, May 4, 2010 ), Draft revision March 2003, part of a Wordhunt appeal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pear-shaped&oldid=826166514 '' Categories : English phrases Metaphors referring to food and drink Hidden categories : Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows Articles needing additional references from October 2010 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from August 2016 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Edit links This page was last edited on 17 February 2018, at 16 : 26. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: where does the phrase it's all gone pear shaped come from
Answer: within the Royal Air Force as a cleaned-up alternative version of its phrase " tits-up"