Idioms, what do they mean?

[BigV]

Originally Posted by gvidas

This is from a recent article about a watery malfunction during a spacewalk.



http://www.theatlantic.com/technolog...-water/277854/

A quick google search for "the pickle was a pest" only turns up references to the same quote. My best guess is: his 'pickle' was getting itchy because he was sweating so much.

Anybody else?

Your use of "pickle" was in reference to a much earlier spacewalk, a time closer to the days where the manual controls on a flightstick contained many switches, including a bomb release switch among others. I imagine "pickle" in this context means a switch that was being a pest, contributing to his high stress symptoms like his high heart rate.

Here's a link to a thread (I like posts #8, 34 and 35 the best) where there's a discussion about pickles (switches), pickling (activating those switches), etc. The term pickle is suggested from the bumpy surface of a pickle's resemblance to the button-studded control sticks. Another suggestion is the name comes from the shape of the bombs, like pickles, that are released when that particular switch is pressed.