Pickle

[Jonathan Lighter]

Garfield is on a dude ranch in this TV cartoon, and somebody says, "Care for
some burgers?"

Suddenly, in one of those fatal twists that make fact stranger than
fiction, there's a thundering stampede of maddened cattle.  Garfield thinks,
"Those burgers are *too rare*!"

Same principle.

JL

On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 9:12 AM, Steve Kl. <stevekl at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Steve Kl." <stevekl at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Pickle
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thanks!
>
> My mom grew up in Chesaning (Saginaw County). I'm going to see if she has
> this.
>
> (Then again, she spoke Czech at home, not English, so she probably just
> called them *okurky*.)
>
> - Steve
>
> On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 8:43 AM, David Metevia <djmetevia at chartermi.net
> >wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       David Metevia <djmetevia at CHARTERMI.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Pickle
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I live in the Tri City area (Midland, Bay City, Saginaw).  There are
> > many cucumber farms in northern Bay County, although the local
> > pickling plants are long gone.
> >
> > On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 8:21 AM, Steve Kl.<stevekl at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       "Steve Kl." <stevekl at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: Pickle
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > 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:
> > >
> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> -----------------------
> > >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> 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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> > >>
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