The Meaning of Headlines: 'in a pickle'

The UK Mirror published an article on 6 May 2016 with the headline: ‘Worker buried underneath 55,000 tonnes of cheese escapes after eight hours in a pickle.’ What does ‘in a pickle’ mean and how are pickles related to cheese?

The Free Dictionary of idioms and the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs define ‘in a pickle’ as ‘in a mess’ or in trouble or ‘experiencing a difficult situation.’ A pickle is ‘a worrisome or awkward situation’ according to Dictionary.com. A pickle is a plight, a quandary, a bind, a jam, or a scrape. The food, pickle, is a cucumber that has been preserved in salt water or vinegar.

The article states that a forklift driver was feared dead when 18-metre high metal shelves carrying slabs of Cheddar cheese and Red Leicester cheese, weighing 20 kilograms each, collapsed onto him. Other workers said that the noise was deafening – like a sonic boom or an earthquake.

Rescue teams involving 13 fire crews of 70 fire fighters from multiple departments used sniffer dogs and a drone to find the man. Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Rod Hammerton, said it was difficult to find the man underneath the cheese because they were ‘giant blocks of cheese.’ The fire crews cut a hole into the building wall.

After eight hours trapped underneath the cheese, the man walked out unharmed. The man, in his 30s, was taken to hospital as a precaution and to ensure that he was not injured in the collapse. The rescuers think that the frame of the forklift truck prevented the man from being crushed.

The Scorecard for the Mirror headline is 75%. The situation was serious – being trapped for eight hours under heavy metal shelves and the 55,000 tonnes of cheese. So the situation was rather more serious than being ‘in a pickle.’ However, in an English lunch, the combination of cheese and pickle is a perfect twosome. As Gary Oldman said: ‘I like cheese and pickle. Nice cheese and pickle on real old-fashioned bread. Ploughman’s lunch.’ And how many people can say that they were covered in cheese!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/worker-buried-underneath-55000-tonnes-7913233

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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