affair vs shoehorn

affair

noun
  • Something which is done or is to be done; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public. 

  • An action or engagement not of sufficient magnitude to be called a battle. 

  • An adulterous relationship (from affaire de cœur, affair of the heart). 

  • A person with whom someone has an adulterous relationship. 

  • A romantic relationship with someone who is not one's regular partner (boyfriend, girlfriend). 

  • A party or social gathering, especially of a formal nature. 

  • Any proceeding or action which it is wished to refer to or characterize vaguely. 

  • A material object (vaguely designated). 

shoehorn

noun
  • Anything by which a transaction is facilitated; a medium. 

  • A smooth tool that assists in putting the foot into a shoe, by sliding the heel in after the toe is in place. This reduces discomfort and damage to the back of the shoe. By slipping it into the back of the shoe behind the heel, the user prevents the heel from squashing down the back of the shoe and causing difficulty; instead the heel slides down the smooth shoehorn, which then comes out easily once the foot is in place. 

verb
  • To use a shoehorn. 

  • To force (something) into (a tight space); to squeeze (something) into (a schedule, etc); to exert great effort to insert or include (something); to include (something) despite potent reasons not to. 

  • To force some current event into alignment with some (usually unconnected) agenda, especially when it is fallacious. 

How often have the words affair and shoehorn occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )