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Fri 8 Mar, 2013 09:14 am
I only vaguely feel that the phrase could mean "to remain silent in when encountered with a difficult situation", or in the sense of legal defense strategy, "to refrain from talking anything to the police", but I have no idea how this phrase came to acquire this meaning and what the original link between pickle and nickel is. Could anyone help me out? Thank you.
@NicoLyn,
Nickel is a 5 cent piece.
When someone doesn't want to talk to the police and incriminate themselves they take the 5th.
"In a pickle" means in a jam or in trouble.
Nickel rhymes with pickle so you just put the two together.
Doesn't make as much sense to me as, "If it doesn't fit; you must acquit!"
No idea of what it means.
@Frank Apisa,
In order to prevent self-incrimination (in a jam or a pickle), taking the 5th amendment (5th = nickel) could be a useful legal tactic.
So the phrase is akin to this rhyming game popularized by the defense by Johnnie Cochran during infamous OJs trial.
Ragman....Parados...
...I finally got it.
Sorry I missed it when you explained it earlier, Parados...but I did.
Yup...it works.
@Frank Apisa,
Whoever said you were slow on the uptake?
Seriously, sometimes I don't get these posts until I re-read it a few times - sometimes reading them at a different time of the day.
@Ragman,
Finally got it. Thanks a lot, Ragman!
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