play it pear-shaped

English

Etymology

Compare go pear-shaped (“to go awry; to go wrong”), attested somewhat later.

Verb

play it pear-shaped (third-person singular simple present plays it pear-shaped, present participle playing it pear-shaped, simple past and past participle played it pear-shaped)

1. (RAF slang, dated) To avoid committing oneself to a single course of action; to go with the flow, take it easy. [1960s]
   • 1964, Densil Barr, “I Hate You Lamp-Post, You Know I Love You”, in Joseph F. McCrindle, editor, The Transatlantic Review, number 17, page 112:

     I thought I'd play it pear-shaped with the Borough Engineer and asked him whose property it was anyway when it was in my garden — if the Council put it there enough times, it meant they were trying to get rid of it even though they didn't own it.

   • [1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Mortdecai's Endgame (Mortdecai; 1), Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 180:

     "Playing it pear-shaped" was a favourite expression of Jock's; it seemed to mean deftly turning a situation to one's own advantage; seizing a favorable opportunity: Boxing Clever.]

   • 1999 December 11, “The town formerly known as Upton-cum-Chalvey”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 2022-11-14:

     When their plans were going awry, Wattis soothed them by saying they were going to "play it pear-shaped" (ie it would all go smoothly).

References

• Rick Jolly, Trugg Willson (1989) “pear-shaped”, in Jackspeak: the Pusser’s Rum Guide to Royal Navy Slanguage […], Torpoint, Cornwall: Palamanando Publ., →ISBN, page 210; republished as Rick Jolly, Jackspeak: A Guide to British Naval Slang and Usage‎^[2], London: Bloomsbury Publishers, 2018, →ISBN: “‘Play it pear-shaped..’ – be flexible, see how it goes, don’t commit yourself too early on.”