A Pickle is a what?

So, this is going to be a bit of an embarrassing story, but it's also kinda funny, so I thought I'd share.

A couple of months ago, I was hanging out with my friends and somehow the topic of either cucumbers or pickles came up. I don't remember exactly how it all went down, but I remember being completely confused and then saying (yes, out loud), "Are you saying that a pickle is a cucumber?" Someone looked at me and said, "Yeah, a pickle is a pickled cucumber. Didn't you know that?"

Now, I probably should've said, "Yeah. Of course I knew that. I was just seeing if YOU knew that," and left it at that, but I didn't. My mind was in such shock that my face alone gave away that no, I did, in fact, NOT know that.

I know what you're going to ask ...

"How could you not know that?"

Here's my perfectly good explanation that I think makes perfect sense but always makes people laugh instead of saying, "Yeah, Fiona. I can completely see where you're coming from."

When something has been "pickled" you say Pickled Beets, or Pickled Carrots or Pickled Peppers (remember, Peter Piper ...). Why, then, does one not say Pickled Cucumbers? Why are they called ... just ... Pickles? I don't get it. One of my friends asked me the other night (because this conversation came up yet again - it's ok, I find it funny now, too), "What did you think pickles were, then?" I said, "Pickles! I thought they were their own thing!" Someone else asked, "How did you think they grew?" and I answered, "Just like everything ELSE grows in the garden." Since I don't like the taste of pickles, I really (obviously) hadn't given it much thought. At Christmas we were discussing the fact that my sister likes pickles and I like cucumbers, but she doesn't like cucumbers and I don't like pickles. My nephew pipes up and says, "But they're the same thing." Shut up, kid. Yeah, my 14 year old nephew already knew something that I didn't find out until my late 30s. Sheesh! What happened to respect your elders. Psssh.

BTW - I just looked up what pickling is: Pickling, also known as brining or corning is the process of preserving food by anaerobic fermentation in brine (a solution of salt in water) to produce lactic acid, or marinating and storing it in an acid solution, usually vinegar (acetic acid). The resulting food is called a pickle. This procedure gives the food a salty or sour taste.

Seriously. How can you guys eat that stuff? Fermentation? Lactic acid? Ich. I will admit that I do enjoy a good Dill Pickle chip, but that's as far as I go.

Like I said, I do find this quite funny, and for me, that almost shocks me more than the topic itself. You see, I used to not like to look stupid in front of people. I mean, does anyone? ... and I know it's pretty much avoidable at least a couple of times in a person's life, but instead of joining in the laughter like most people, I would get embarrassed and then kinda angry. I would ALWAYS join in laughing at someone else when they looked stupid, but heaven forbid anyone ever call ME out on something. So, to me, this is progress. I wasn't purposely working on this about myself (I was more working on the actual "don't look stupid in front of people" thing), but the fact that this topic has come up a few times since it happened and I join in on the laughter, makes me happy. I guess somehow along the way, God has helped me to take myself a little less serious. I love learning a lesson that we don't always have to learn the hard way. I mean, I guess I'll have to wait until it happens again and see if I react the same way ... oh wait, it DID happen again, but it has something to do with a femine hygiene product and probably isn't really something we should talk about here ... but it was FUNNY ... and very enlightening to me. If we're ever face to face and you want me to tell you the story, just ask.

Now, who doesn't have the Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers rhyme going through their head? You're welcome.