Liliputin- 5011

After successful unification of Germany the political career of Chancellor Helmut Kohl went pear-shaped ... "
Angela Merkel



Liliputins. What, the heck, is this?
http://stihi.ru/2021/11/24/7101


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Pear-shaped is an adjective that has two meanings. One meaning is having an oval shape that is narrower at one end, like a pear. The other meaning is free from harshness, thinness, or nasality in a vocal tone.
Pear-shaped can also be used in the phrase "to go pear-shaped", which means to go wrong, to fail, or to fall apart. This phrase is often used to describe situations that have unexpected or disastrous outcomes.

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Kohl would be ridiculed as die Birne (pear in German) — a snide comment on his body shape.

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Reunification turned out to be an expensive proposition, costing the country about 4 percent of its GDP year after year, with no end in sight. Future historians will give Kohl his due, but also note that he turned into a tragic figure. He was ousted from power in 1998. One year later, he became mired in a party financing scandal. Refusing to name the donors (“I have given my word of honor”), he paid a fine of $150,000. As in a Shakespearean tragedy, Kohl’s protege Angela Merkel thrust the dagger into her mentor when she used the affair to declare his days “irretrievably gone.” The CDU had to learn to fight for power without its “old war horse.” Parricide worked. Kohl lost the chairmanship of the party to Merkel, who went on to win the chancellorship in 2005. Kohl’s wife committed suicide, his son Walter turned against him. Seriously impaired since 2008, Kohl ended up in a wheelchair, hardly able to speak. Thus do the mighty fall. Yet history will record that this large man did grow into a great man.