In the same pickle?_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

In the same pickle?

That is, if you understand how much $1.3tn is. I don’t. Immediately, I don’t understand how much $1.3tn is. I know I’ll have to count a lot of zeros out loud to have any faint idea of it and I won’t even bother to do that – I doubt even then I’ll be able to get the hang of it. Suffice to say, I understand it’s a LOT of money.

Back to pickle. Pickle refers to the strong tasting liquid made with vinegar and salt, etc, used to preserve vegetables.

Preserved vegetables have been in existence for thousands of years here. I suppose it’s the same way over there yonder in Britain. This explanation, from Phrase.org.

The earliest pickles were spicy sauces made to accompany meat dishes. Later, in the 16th century, the name pickle was also given to a mixture of spiced, salted vinegar that was used as a preservative. The word comes from the Dutch or Low German pekel, with the meaning of ‘something piquant’. Later still, in the 17th century, the vegetables that were preserved, for example cucumbers and gherkins, also came to be called pickles.

As for how the phrase “in a pickle” came to mean difficulty, apparently someone imagined putting themselves in a pickle and instantly found that thought unbearable, hence and so forth. Phrase.org does not have a much better explanation than that, I don’t think, but it does point out that Shakespeare was among the first writers to ever use the phrase – in The Tempest, 1610 (Alonso talking to Trinculo, who’s very drunk):