His ingenious idea helped the company

I found myself in a pickle because I could not solve the problem even though I said I could

What is the meaning and origin of ‘in a pickle’? (C. Narayanan, Chennai)

This is an idiom which is not heard often nowadays. When you say you are in a pickle, what you are suggesting is that you are in big trouble; as there is no immediate solution to the problem, you will continue to be in the unpleasant or sticky situation for some time to come. Other variants of the expression are ‘be in a right pickle’ and ‘be in a pretty pickle’.

I was in a pickle when the university decided to stop funding my project.

Several explanations have been put forward regarding the origin of the idiom. The following is one of them. As Indians, when we hear the word pickle, what comes to mind immediately is the fruit we use to make them — mango, lime, tomato, etc. In the past, for most Europeans, it was a vegetable — primarily, the cucumber. What is of interest to note is that it is neither the fruit nor the vegetable that the word ‘pickle’ refers to. According to scholars, the Dutch word ‘pekel’, from which we get our modern ‘pickle’, referred to the brine or the salty solution in which the vegetable/fruit was immersed for a considerable period of time. In most cases, the brine consisted of vinegar, salt, sugar, and water, and it was this which helped preserve the vegetable and give it a sour taste. So, when you say you are in a pickle, what you are suggesting is, like the vegetable, you are floating around in a bottle of brine —not a very pleasant place to be! What is the difference between ‘ingenious’ and ‘ingenuous? (Prakash Chaudhary, Jodhpur)

The second syllable in ‘ingenious’ rhymes with ‘bean’, ‘dean’ and ‘seen’; while in the case of ‘ingenuous’, it rhymes with ‘pen’, ‘ten’ and ‘hen’. The words are pronounced ‘inJEANies’ and ‘inJENyues’ respectively; both words have the stress on the second syllable.

‘Ingenious’ comes from the Latin ‘ingeniosus’ meaning ‘clever, gifted with genius’; it is mostly used nowadays to describe someone who comes up with clever ideas and is capable of inventing things. This creative talent that the individual has is inborn. The word can be used with things as well. For example, when you talk about someone’s ingenious plan, what you are suggesting is that the plan is brilliant.

Shoba is ingenious when it comes to finding reasons to postpone things.

The word ‘ingenuous’ comes from the Latin ‘ingenuus’ meaning ‘frank, candid’. An ‘ingenuous’ individual is a trusting person; he speaks his mind, and never attempts to hide anything. Being childlike in his approach to life, he is incapable of deceit. The word carries with it the sense that the person is rather naïve.