I believe this idiom is sort of self-explaing.
Anyway, here are a couple of examples of it
1) "... I'm happy to do work I was cut out for. I felt like a square
peg in a round hole at A..... but at C..... it's being like a square
peg in a square hole! ..."
I think the meaning of this sentence is quite obviuos as - you know -
a square peg cannot fit in a round hole, if not with great difficulty!
Therefore, it describes a difficult situation.
"I felt like a square peg in a round hole at A....." means, more or
less, that wasn't the right workplace for me, I wasn't the right
person there.
The "Idiom Connection" web site shows an example of the same kind
square peg in a round hole
"a person who does not fit into a job or position"
He is like a square peg in a round hole trying to do the job of an
accountant.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6720/
There, BTW, you can find exercise to test you idioms knowledge.
Here's one of their quizzes on the "S" idioms page.
Choose an idiom at the bottom to replace the expression in the
brackets below:
"We will have to go back to (the beginning) in order to solve the
problem."
(a) scrape together (b) square one (c) sell ourself short (d) shape up
But that is another "square" idiom :)
2) And here is a another example of "A square pge in a round hole"
idiom.
"Dr. L. K., an FDA compliance officer, complained that the FDA was
'trying to fit a square peg into a round hole' by concluding that
'there is no difference between foods modified by genetic engineering
and foods modified by traditional breeding practices.' "
It's not speaking of a person, but of a situation, of a problem.
"Trying to fit a square peg into a round hole", here, refers to a
difficult or impossible solution, and the authors is suggesting they
are forcing it even if it not right (in the author's opinion).
--
Enrico C ~ No native speaker
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