to tickle someone's pickle
- idiom
- Slang
:
hacer feliz a alguien
- Winning the contest absolutely tickled her pickle after such a tough year.
Examples
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Nothing tickles his pickle more than a surprise visit from friends.
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That joke really tickled my pickle and made my whole day brighter.
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Don't tickle her pickle too much!
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That joke really tickled my pickle.
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A heartfelt compliment really tickles someone's pickle and brightens their day.
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Surprising her with a thoughtful gift tickled his pickle and left him grinning.
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Seeing his favorite band live tickled her pickle beyond words.
Synonyms
94
1.0
To touch someone lightly so they feel a tingle or laugh
54
1.0
Cause someone to feel happy or amused
21
4.1
Make someone very happy
2
7.5
To make someone feel happy and warm inside
1
6.3
Feel very happy and amused by something someone does
To make someone laugh a lot
To make someone laugh or feel amused
Antonyms
How Amusing
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'to make someone very happy/amused' (often with slang or sexual connotations) cannot be reliably derived from the literal words 'tickle' + 'someone's' + 'pickle'—'pickle' here is slang/idiomatic rather than the preserved vegetable, so the composition is not transparent. This is an informal, culture-specific idiom/innuendo whose meaning is unpredictable to a B1 learner even if they know the constituent words.
Etymology
Tickle someone's pickle may come from a playful image: imagine gently tickling a small, silly pickle so it wiggles and makes you laugh. That picture connects the action to pleasure, so the phrase came to mean 'to delight' or 'amuse' someone.