Pickle

[Tony Au]

I'm from the Tri Cities area myself, but I've never noticed people saying
pickles for cucumbers, although admittedly I never really paid much
attention to this either.


On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 11:44 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Pickle
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 9:25 AM -0400 8/21/09, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >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
>
> So we're talking pickles on the hoof.  FWIW, a couple of my Michigan
> informants (with much experience in produce aisles in the Lansing,
> suburban Detroit, and Traverse City areas) are not familiar with this
> usage, but it strikes me as being not infrequent in Madison, WI, if
> memory serves.  (Can't recall if it correlates with positive
> "anymore".)
>
> LH
>
> >
> >On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 9:12 AM, Steve Kl. <stevekl at gmail.com> 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
> >>
> >>
>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>  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:
> >>
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> >>  > 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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> >"There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
> >Platypus"
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