Why Do We Say “In a Pickle?”

Have you ever wondered why being “in a pickle” means finding yourself in a difficult or awkward situation?

I have, although I’ll admit that my relationship with cucumbers is already a bit complicated.

Plain cucumbers have never really been my thing. To me, they’re not especially cool to eat at all. Now let them spend some time marinating with vinegar, onion, dill, and a few flavorful companions, and that’s an entirely different story.

That may be why “in a pickle” makes me smile. A pickle sounds perfectly pleasant sitting beside a sandwich. It sounds far less appealing when it describes the predicament you’ve landed in.

So how did a preserved cucumber become another way of saying someone is in trouble?

Naturally, I had to find out.

What Does “In a Pickle” Mean?

When someone says they’re “in a pickle,” they mean they’ve landed in a difficult, puzzling, or embarrassing situation without an obvious way out.

It’s the sort of predicament that may require patience, creativity, help from someone else, or perhaps a snack before deciding what to do next.

Where Did “In a Pickle” Come From?

This expression has been traveling through English for hundreds of years, and its history has taken a few interesting turns.

The word pickle didn’t originally mean a preserved cucumber. In Middle English, it referred to a sauce, gravy, or brine and was related to the Middle Dutch word peeckel, meaning brine.The familiar cucumber meaning appeared later, after foods preserved in that salty liquid began taking the name of the liquid itself.

By the 1560s, pickle was already being used figuratively for a difficult, disorderly, or unfortunate condition. That means the idea was circulating before William Shakespeare used it in The Tempest.

Shakespeare certainly gave the phrase a memorable appearance. Near the end of the play, one character asks, “How cam’st thou in this pickle?” The people involved have been drinking, so the pickle in that scene is a rather tipsy and bedraggled condition, not quite the everyday predicament we usually mean now.

Over time, “in a pickle” settled into the meaning we recognize today: being caught in a troublesome or awkward situation.

I love how language does that. A word that once described sauce or salty brine eventually became a familiar way to describe life’s occasional complications.

Thankfully, many of those complications can eventually be worked out.

There. I’ve given the pickle a more hopeful ending.

My Kind of Cucumber

Speaking of happier endings, I’m probably about to disappoint every devoted cucumber enthusiast reading this.

Like I mentioned earlier, cucumbers and I have never become close friends.

Marinate them for a while, however, and I’ll happily reconsider.

Every family seems to have a favorite pickle brand, cucumber salad, or recipe that appears when summer gardens and farmers markets begin overflowing. As I write this, I confess that I’m eating popcorn rather than cucumbers.

Is that wrong? I digress.

Popcorn will have to pop into its own curious phrase story another day.

For now, here’s the refrigerator cucumber onion recipe I’ve made for years. Start it today, enjoy it tomorrow, and smile when the flavors become even better after spending some time together.

Joy’s Sweet and Simple Marinated Cucumbers

Ingredients

2 large cucumbers, thinly sliced

½ sweet onion, thinly sliced

¾ cup white vinegar labeled 5% acidity

½ cup water

⅓ cup sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon dried dill, or a small handful of chopped fresh dill, which is my personal favorite

¼ teaspoon celery seed

Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Directions

Place the sliced cucumbers and onion in a bowl.

In a different bowl, stir together the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, dill, celery seed, and pepper until the sugar and salt dissolve.

Pour the mixture over the cucumbers and onions, gently toss everything together, cover, and refrigerate for several hours. Overnight is even better, and yet another day gives the flavors more time to become acquainted.

The hardest part is waiting.

These are refrigerator marinated cucumbers rather than canned pickles. Keep them refrigerated, and don’t use this recipe for home canning.

Celebration Cucumbers for Days When We’re Celebrating Less Work

On days when stirring several ingredients feels overly ambitious, I have a cheerful shortcut.

Thinly slice two large cucumbers and half of a sweet onion. I especially like red onion or Vidalia onion here. Place everything in a bowl, add enough of your favorite balsamic vinegar to lightly coat the cucumbers and onion, toss, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Bam. Done.

I’m calling them Celebration Cucumbers because we’re celebrating flavor with very little work.

They aren’t traditional pickles, but they make a bright, tangy addition to lunch, dinner, or a summer table.

Friends will wonder what your secret ingredient is.

So, as you can see, you’re never really in much of a pickle while making my kind of pickles.

Wander a Little Further

There are more familiar expressions waiting inside the growing Curious Food Phrases collection.

You might enjoy discovering why we say someone “spilled the beans,” or wandering through the Curious Food Phrases collection to see what else is currently on the menu.

And because one cucumber has already led us here, I suspect “cool as a cucumber” may eventually deserve its own curious investigation too.

If you’re curious, pull up a chair. There’s always room for one more story at this table.

Where will you Scatter Joyfulness today?