I, Robert

Elizabeth writes (on her blog):

When I was younger - say eleven or twelve - I mistranslated the phrase, “Grow a pair.” For a good year, when everyone was saying this phrase more often than was appropriate, I thought it was “Grow a pear.” I thought it was a reference to the pear-like shape of the uterus. In this way, although it was slang and my mother would disapprove of my saying it, I still really enjoyed the idea of it. When I said it to boys, I envisioned a pear expanding inside of them like one of those capsules you toss into water that then expands into a dinosaur. It was amusing, this phrase was great, it inspired fantastic imagery. As a woman, it made me feel empowered to have a popular phrase devoted to the strength, courage and heightened pain tolerance of individuals with a uterus.

Anyway, I was wrong.