Pickle

[Joseph Salmons]

Don't bother with OED but do check the Dictionary of American Regional
English ... it's "widespread, but chiefly Nth, N Midl" with a map
(showing a very broad distribution). This usage is definitely around
in Wisconsin, including Madison.

Joe


On Aug 21, 2009, at 7:21 AM, Steve Kl. wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Steve Kl." <stevekl at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Pickle
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>
> Out of curiosity, what part of Michigan are you from (I assume
> Michigan
> because of 'chartermi')?
> I grew up southwest of Flint, my grandparents were farmers. My
> father had a
> huge garden and we grew tons of cukes, but I never heard any of them
> call
> small cucumbers pickles. Are you up near the Thumb? For some reason
> I have a
> vague recollection that were large cucumber crops up that way, and I'm
> wondering if this is a term that people who deal with cucumbers in
> large
> quantities used.
>
> On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 8:03 AM, David Metevia <djmetevia at chartermi.net
> >wrote:
>
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>> Poster:       David Metevia <djmetevia at CHARTERMI.NET>
>> Subject:      Pickle
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I don't have access to the OED at the moment, but looked at m-w.com
>> for a definition of pickle.  In my part of the world, folks regularly
>> refer to small size cucumbers as pickles.  A gardener grows these
>> pickles; the farmer's market sells these pickles.  They are referring
>> to the raw vegetable. Presumably this is an extension of the word as
>> the intent is that the cucumbers will be further processed into
>> pickles.
>>
>> Yet, the MW definition only gets as close to that meaning as the
>> final
>> product:
>>
>> 3 : an article of food that has been preserved in brine or in
>> vinegar;
>> specifically : a cucumber that has been so preserved
>>
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