Metaphorically speaking , to open up a can of worm is to essay or attempt to solve some problem , only to unknowingly perplex it and produce even more trouble . Literally verbalize , open a can of worms , as most fisher can testify , can also mean more trouble than you dicker for . No surprisal , then , that the idiom was inspired by real liveworms .
The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that the phrase’sdebut in printoccurred in a 1962Timesarticle . Various dictionaries and historians ofslangand accent say that the set phrase was endure in earlier the U.S.;World Wide Wordsreports the appearance ofa can of wormsin a Michigan daily newsprint in 1951 .
source agree thatcan of wormsreferences an actual transport foroligochaetes . In the days before plastic and styrofoam container were ubiquitous , decoy shops often sold live hook in metallic element prat with handles and chapeau . One of the most pop types of live bait was ( and is)Canadian Nox wiggler — a front-runner of several sort of freshwater fish , including dory , catfish , and bass — that had to be gather up by paw from pastures and battlefield overnight .
Worms are n’t the only nibble employed as hot bait , though . Fishers use a host of creepy - crawlies , such asleeches , dirt ball grubs , minnows , andcrawfish , to snare different kind of fish .
The great thing about alive bait is that it ’s alive , so it wriggles on the hook shot and tempts fish with its movement . The bad thing about live bait is also that it ’s live , and leaving the lid of the container unaffixed or off is a great way to suffer your bait . pass on the opportunity to exit , worms will often escape or just generally make it unmanageable to get them all back in the can and replace the eyelid . Once you ’ve opened a can of them , you ’ve got a trouble on your hands .
A version of this taradiddle was published in 2012 ; it has been update for 2024 .
