In a Pickle

On October 21, 1805 Admiral Horatio Nelson of the British navy died in battle on the HMS Victory.  The fatal shot entered his body through his left shoulder and passed through his spine.  It was a slow death for the respected captain.  While the crew survived and won the sea battle, Nelson did not.  He was placed in a barrel with alcohol for the voyage back home.  Along the journey he was moved to a lead-lined casket filled with wine spirits to preserve his body.  He was literally in a pickle.

Other bodies through history were also preserved this way, but Nelson is a famous example.  A funny twist is that the news was brought back to London through a ship called the HMS Pickle.  I thought it was an interesting story about someone literally in a pickle.  However, the idiom is not literal.

In a pickle means to be in a difficult situation.  Pickling has been around since at least 2030 BC and is likely much older.  It is a good way to preserve food.  You put a vegetable in a mixture of spice and vinegar, and it lasts a very long time.  In a pickle appears for the first time in English in the 1440 book, The Morte Arthure.  The passage talks about children being chopped up and put in a pickle.  Eventually the phrase became the idiom we know today.

Example:  I am in a pickle right now.  I haven’t finished cleaning my room and my mother will come home soon. 

In a more recent example, the character, Rick (from Rick and Morty), turned himself into a pickle.  The episode is called, Pickle Rick (S03-E03) and I highly recommend it.  Becoming a pickle put Rick in a pickle as he had to overcome many objects to become human again.

Tell me about a time that you were in a pickle.

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Reference:
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/in-a-pickle.html
https://www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/history-pickles/