American friends; do you guys use the expression 'square peg in a round hole', as we Brits do?

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SheyneinNH

In America "a square peg in a round hole" means a misfit, someone who doesn't fit in.
How do you use it?

Dead Parrot Society

There used to be a kids show called Square Pegs.

I understand it to mean someone who doesn't fit in.

tonalc2

It's a familiar phrase, though not currently in the common vernacular.

It basically means someone who doesn't fit in.

Ronatnyu

Don't force someone into being something they can't be ... Like a Caveman can' be a Concierge

EddieJ

Yes, but we don't say it much. We do understand it if someone says it. The aforementioned "Square Pegs" TV show was Sarah Jessica Parker's ("Sex and the City") first big thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi8Taifkj00

Tyreeisme!

it basically means a misfit, i do not know other meanings

anna eats james.

People find it extremely strange that I use that term, hmm. : )
Well, someone that doesn't fit in, that's the way I use it. How about you?

reader.erin

Ooh! This is interesting. I'm Canadian and we use that expression too, but I didn't realize Americans used it in terms of people who don't fit in.

We use it in terms of situations or contexts. Usually when someone is trying to apply a certain brand of logic that doesn't fit the scenario. And especially when someone is trying to force a certain logic (which isn't necessarily bad logic all by itself) but doesn't fit the context we're currently dealing with.

emagidson

I'd say only old farts use that expression. I am 53 and I consider it "old fashioned", but I still say it.

But then I say a lot of stuff, like "belts and suspenders" that no one around me seems to get.

My parents were older and I hung around the relatives a lot, so my vocab has more of the 1940's than most people my age.

bad tim, sitting this one out

i've heard it used both ways, as in 'she's a square peg in a round hole' or 'he's trying to put a square peg in a round hole', meaning 'she's a misfit' and 'he's trying to do something impossible'.

my mom used to use the impossible definition, and i never heard the misfit definition until the show came out, and then everyone was using it.

Dr_knowital

Yes, its more common in the South

carolina girlâ™¥

never heard it before.. i'd guess it just means that you don't really fit in?

Maybe???

This is an old fashioned expression, which indicates something is difficult or impossible to do. Nobody uses this expression anymore.

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