When I was young my Dad and I would always stop at the neighborhhod deli and he would buy pickles that were kept in a large wooden barrel. My Dad told me the reason the pickles had such a strong taste was because the deli owners would wash their feet in the barrel! I still hate pickles to this day.

Sue

When I was about 12, my family moved to the UK, and (along with other phrases) I was confused by the term "gherkin". Not wanting to sound stupid, I assumed it was a, erm, special part of one's anatomy. This was confirmed even more when my American chum called it a pickle. So one nite at a resturant, when the waitress asked if I wanted a gherkin along with my sandwhich, I shreiked and caused a rather large scene. My family still torments me about that to this very day...

Xornia

until i read here that gherkins were the same things as pickles, i always thought they were a mythical creature like a gnome, or an elf or something. i never heard someone call a pickle a gherkin, or vice versa.

deprived child

When I was a kid I used to believe that gherkins were Frogs Willies, as my Dad told me that just because he used to like them at xmas and did not want us to eat them,

jo

I used to believe,that pickles were made from frogs backs.Both green and both bumpy...Also used to believe that root beer was made from cat tails(the weed in swamps)..

wayne402day

I believed when I was little that a pickle (of course)would grow into a cucumber and if let to grow further it would become a watermelon!

Richard O'Brien-Grand Rapids MI.

Until, just a second ago, afer reading someone else's post, I also thought cucumbers grew from trees! Boy do I feel dumb.

Daryl

This is sad. I use to believe gherkins were indeed a "fancy pants" word for jerky as in beek jerky. Yeah, so the cashier even had a good laugh when I asked for a pack of beef "gherkins." I was eighteen.

That's one big Gherkin!!!!!

I read this book of mistakes from students' essays and exams and one of them had said a gherkin was a native who ran about with a knife. I was in Culinary School at the time, and thought about that. I figured out that a chef was a native who ran about with a knife! We used them all the time and we were constantly being told by chefs and eachother NOT to run or walk around with them! :-)

Hilary the Baker

Once, when I was like, 4, I asked my mom why there were "tails" on pickles. (By "tails" I meant the piece of the vine you get sometimes on the end of pickles.) She told me that pickles were little animals that run around and when people catch them, they pull off their arms and legs and put them in jars. Then she said that if you listened closely, you could hear the scream for help. So, at the age of 4, I could often be seen holding pickles against my ears.

YumYum

When I was about 5, I always liked to eat Pickle-flavored chips. It became my favorite food. One day my Aunt Trisha told me that if you eat too many, you would turn into a pickle. I believed her... odd thing is, I kept on eating them, hoping each day that I would turn into a pickle.

Beth

I like pickles. When I was little, my mom told me if I kept my hand in the pickle jar too long my hand would turn into a pickle. So afterwards, whenever I wanted a pickle, I'd have to grab one really fast and then dry off my hand before it turned green... my mom is evil.

Anon

When my husband was little, his grandfather used to put a pickle in his bag of dill pickle chips. Everytime he got near the bottom of the bag there was one in it. After his grandfather passed away, he began to think that they didn't make them that way. When he was 18 he mentioned how dill pickle chips used to have pickles in them and that's when he finally found out that he had been tricked as a kid

Trina

I used to believe that pickles were hot dogs made from turtle meat.

Jerry Moe the Gimp

My sister used to tell me that at night her and her friends would go to the grocery stores and pee in the pickle jars and that's what made them green. I believed that from the time i was 8 until I was 11.

Jessica

My grandpa used to tell me that eating pickles would make me grow hair on my chest. I am a girl, but I loved pickles so much I couldn't help myself! After eating a few, I would always run to the bathroom to see if I had grown any hair.

Autumn

Some years back, I bought this video game (yes, I still play those) where you would go around and collect different types of weapons and armor. Now, I'd known for some time that gherkins are pickles, but I didn't really know how gherkin was spelled. So, when I found a type of armor called a "jerkin" (apparently some sort of padded leather suit) I thought "what...? Why is there pickle armor in this game?!" I was really embarrassed when my friend told me otherwise.

Duran Artora

The only reason I found out that pickles were actually cucumbers... was watching Veggie Tales with my seven-year-old sister. She kept insisting it was and I kept telling her to shut up because she didn't know what she was talking about. Imagine her triumphant glee when she found out that I found out I was wrong! I had to have been about tweleve at the time and thought they were some type of mutated green vegetable that grew on the ocean floors...

Gotta be... VEGGIE TALES!!!

that pickles were octopus legs

Anon

i had no idea that gherkin was a word until i read this website, and thought that it was a made up word until i read that it was a pickle. i suppose it must be british, ah well.

Emily