“I am in shape. Round is a shape.”
“I am in shape. Round is a shape!” is a saying that’s popular with some out-of-shape people and has even been put on T-shirts. The origin of the phrase is unknown, cited in print from at least 1988.
Basketball player Charles Barkley (also known as “the Round Mound of Rebound”) had weight problems throughout his career. Prior to the 1984 NBA draft, he is credited for telling the general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers: “Round is a shape.”
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Wikipedia: Charles Barkley
Charles (Chuck) Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American retired professional basketball player. Nicknamed “Sir Charles” for his aggressive and outspoken demeanor, and “The Round Mound of Rebound”, for his unusual build and talent as a player, Barkley established himself as one of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA’s) most dominating power forwards. He was selected to both the All-NBA First Team and All-NBA Second Team five times and once named to the All-NBA Third Team. He earned eleven NBA All-Star Game appearances and was named the All-Star MVP in 1991. In 1993, he was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player and during the NBA’s 50th anniversary, named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. He competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic games and won two gold medals as a member of the United States’ Dream Team. In 2006, Barkley was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
16 March 1988, Boston (MA) Globe:
As far as Tubbs is concerned, round is a shape, too, and that will be the one he is in Monday night.
(Boxer Tony Tubbs—ed.)
1 October 1990, Multichannel News, “National Lampoon’s Comedy Playoofs”:
Sam Greasebaum, a Hoss Cartwright look-alike from Denver, is also a standout. (“I’m not out of shape; round IS a shape.”)
24 January 1997, Worcester (MA) Telegram & Gazette:
(Old joke: “You should get in shape.” “Round is a shape.”)
5 August 1999, Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO):
I am in shape. Round is a shape.
16 February 2000, Preston County Journal (Kingwood, WV), pg. 2, col. 5:
I am in shape. Round is a shape.
DealofDay.com
markio26
12-08-2000, 07:19 AM
I am in shape
Round is a shape.
Google Books
Greta Garbage’s Biggest and Best Bathroom Book
By Greta Garbage
Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press
2001
Pg. 118:
I’m in shape. Round is a shape.
Google books
Tip-off
By Filip Bondy
Cambridge, MA: Da Capo
2007
Pg. 150:
Williams had a talk with (Pg. 151—ed.) Barkley, telling him to return to Philadelphia for a weigh-in before the draft and to lose twenty pounds in the interim.
“Go back and get in shape,” Williams tol Barkley.
“Round is a shape, Mr. Williams,” Barkley retorted.