can of worms

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Kate posted a picture of a can of worms on another thread and it got me thinking....

was there ever an actual can of worms? Did someone once open a can to find worms in it? or was the phrase simply dreamt up by someone who opened a can of spaghetti and noted the obv vermiform nature of said pasta?

― Grandpont Genie, Friday, 7 September 2007 11:18 (eighteen years ago)

I'm sure in the days before proper sterlisation and tinning processes, there were a lot more cases of people literally opening tins and finding a worm (or maggots, or other unmentionables) inside.

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 7 September 2007 11:20 (eighteen years ago)

google: etymology + "can of worms" gets you http://www.businessballs.com/clichesorigins.htm :

it's apparently from the early days of the canning industry. (scroll down on that page - better still, read all of it, it has lots of great but useless info - the kind I like!)

― StanM, Friday, 7 September 2007 11:38 (eighteen years ago)

(so Kate OTM)

― StanM, Friday, 7 September 2007 11:38 (eighteen years ago)

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