Why do we sometimes say that we are in a pickle or jam when we are in a sticky situation?
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M$2 Answers
1) the Dutch phrase "in de pekel zitten" means "sit in the pickle" which was used to talk about food in a brine solution. This caused the figurative term of being in a pickle. Items being pickled are stuck.
2) The 'in trouble' meaning of 'in a pickle' was an allusion to being as disoriented and mixed up as the stewed vegetables that made up pickles.
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M$
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M$
Great answer for "in a pickle." I would vote this as best answer if you also explained "in a jam."
Thanks. Here is the explanation of "in a jam" as well.
It is comparable to also saying "in a bind" since both denote a situation where the person cannot "easily extricate oneself." If you think about something legitimately in a bind as in it is bound and tied; then it is stuck and cannot be moved. The same goes for jam. Think of a traffic jam. If you are stuck in one, you cannot move or extricate yourself. Also, it is distinctly displeasurable. If you are "in a jam" you are locked into a negative position. Consider packing something into a full container into which you must jam it in. This is not freeflowing. It is stuffed in and difficult to remove. Humanizing any one of those situations and placing yourself in it shows the meaning. You get caught up in some kind of trouble, for example, that you can't get out of. You are in a jam the same way a car is in a traffic jam. Both negative, both not easily altered.
Source: "http://www.yourdictionary.com/idioms/in-a-bind"