Even as a native English speaker I'm not really sure
where the phrase comes from. I did consider that it
might not translate too well - but my mouse finger was
quicker than my brain (as most things are).
Anyway - if you are interested - I found this!
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pea2.htm
On the subject of the "Busy Page" I gave up for now -
look out for the saem question on this list in about
three months time!
Chris
>
> =?iso-8859-1?Q?Endre_St=F8lsvik?= <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> > On Mon, 25 Oct 2004, Chris Ward wrote:
> >
> > | > -Consider- using J2EE in -seriously- heavy-distributed
> > | > environments. Do not use even think about considering
> it to show a
> > | > "request being processed" page!!!!!
> > |
> > | Er... this has all gone a bit pear-shaped.
> >
> > As a non-native English speaker, what would the pear-shape
> refer to? I
> > don't get that idiomatic expression at all...!
>
> It's all gone pear shaped and the wheel's have fallen off...
>
> Alex "The Horse" Pomperini has been knicked for doing over
> the drums on his manor and putting the frighteners on the
> toms. His brief says he'll have to cough and go down for a stretch.
>
> ....
>
>
> I believe that "pear shaped" (a description of something that has gone
> bad) refers to the English vernacular description of a
> woman's body shape. Women are said (mostly by themselves) to
> be "pear shaped" as opposed to "hour glass shaped" which is
> the idiomatic ideal.
>
> Clearly, it is "better" to not be "pear shaped". So if
> something goes "pear shaped" it has deteriorated in some way.
>
> The hacker alternative would be FUUBAR or FOO BAR as it is so
> often sanitized to.
>
>
> > |
> > | I made the mistake of trying to round it off with a
> > | "funny" quip about having to use full-blown J2EE just
> > | to get a busy page.
> >
> > I did get that, actually. The "hahaha!"-reply to your sole sentence
> > was my way of trying to convey that..! The "what ARE you
> saying?"-part
> > of my mail was directed to Zerbe's "Yup, J2EE's what you
> want, go on
> > with the MBDs", which I actually considered to be an actual serious
> > suggestion. I might have gotten that wrong, though..
>
> I *think* he was joking... but if you read the whole thread
> you'll get a sense of the battle raging in the Java community
> right now between those who want to earn money by making
> customers pay for J2EE and those that want to earn money by
> making their customers more efficient.
>
> /8->
>
>
> --
> Nic Ferrier
> http://www.tapsellferrier.co.uk
>
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