Idiom!

"Don't try to fit a round peg in a square hole."

Here's an idiom I don't understand.

Take a look at my amazing drawing skills (made in Paint) above. It is very obvious that a round peg could easily fit in a square hole. Those toys that are the plastic boxes with the cut-out shapes and the pieces you put in through the corresponding holes also demonstrates my exact point. Fitting is not the issue. So then, what is?

Is it that it is not a perfect match? What is a perfect match in today's world? Let's face it. Shape doesn't matter here. Size does.

In the phrase, whatever the round peg consists of is the substance, the meat, what you really want. Right? If you have a round peg that fits in a square hole then, logically, you are still getting everything you want. The substance remains intact. What is left around the outside must be junk anyway, and superfluous.

Let's reverse it. Say you have a round hole and a square peg. Keeping with the idea that size is all that matters, if your square peg fits in the round hole, the peg can spin around completely at it's leisure. This means all the substance is constantly in place, and the junk around the outside can be accessed at your pleasure.

So, how about this: we scrap the old phrase and replace it with "Don't try to fit in something you don't." It just makes more sense than this square and round peg/hole business.