Olympian
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2008
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- Hindi
- Home Country
- India
- Current Location
- India
Hello,
the following is from a news story about a birthday cake being rejected by LeBron James. (LeBron James, it turns out, is a famous basketball player in the US).
2.
a. The Wikipedia meaning of 'pear-shaped' came up as "The third meaning is mostly limited to the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australasia. It describes a situation that went awry, perhaps horribly wrong." Is it a bit strange that this phrase is used to describe an event associated with a US spots figure? Do people in the US understand the meaning? I am sure they can guess from the context, but would they know without context?
b. What are the names being referred to (implied ?) in 2 above? Fan? Sycophant? Self-seeker?
Thank you
the following is from a news story about a birthday cake being rejected by LeBron James. (LeBron James, it turns out, is a famous basketball player in the US).
1. Then the cake, and the communication between Hickman and Galbut, went a bit pear-shaped:
2.
It seems like she was more than willing to allow for the loss of income just to be associated with a star; they have names for people who do these sorts of things, and we shouldn't feel too bad when she was the one who signed off on giving a free birthday cake to LeBron in the first place.
a. The Wikipedia meaning of 'pear-shaped' came up as "The third meaning is mostly limited to the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australasia. It describes a situation that went awry, perhaps horribly wrong." Is it a bit strange that this phrase is used to describe an event associated with a US spots figure? Do people in the US understand the meaning? I am sure they can guess from the context, but would they know without context?
b. What are the names being referred to (implied ?) in 2 above? Fan? Sycophant? Self-seeker?
Thank you