What does it mean to "be in a pickle"?!
What does it mean to "be in a pickle"?
Answers:
To be in a troubled quandary, undecided, confusing delimma. "I have got myself into such a pickle, I made a date with two people on the same day and do not know how to straighten this out."
To "get yourself in this pickle" means to get in to a troubled minor situation as in "How did you get yourself into this pickle?!"
The origin is most likely from the ethnic cultures of Germany and some of its bordering countries and towns. People would pickle using salt, vinegar, and spices to preserve vegetables. They kept longer in colder wet temperatures than traditional canning that we use today, ie pickeling was done in large flagons or casks and in the "new" glass jars (but you had to be rich to afford that). Pickleing could take all month long with help from all the women of the village. Getting yourself into a pickle could have originated to when the women were all together to do the "pickleing" and took them away from their other chores or could have been in a similar fashion as some of the Americans came up with "Getting yourself in a stew" which could me you were all worked up and mad or got yourself in trouble depending on the situation you are discussing. I liked this question. It's kind of fun knowing where some of our expressions came from isn't it?