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Reader question: Please explain “can of worms” in this sentence: “This political scandal is a real can of worms.” My comments: It’s not a REAL can of worms, of course. It’s a metaphor, a figure of speech. And it’s a good metaphor here too – likening the fallout from a political scandal to a can of worms going out of control. First, definitions. Can of worm is an American idiom (The saying originated in the United States in the mid-twentieth century - Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings), and like many other American idioms, this one is vivid, short, simple, nimble and neat. Or messy, if you mismanage the situation. That is, if you open the can of worms without promptly putting the lid back on... All the worms will be crawling out and about. Ugh. OK, you see the picture of creepy crawlies. This idiom is derived from the real life situation of fishermen using live worms as bait. Going fishing, you buy a can (or jar) of such bait worms consisting mostly of maggots and earthworms. And when you’re all settled and ready to go, you open the can, put one of the worms on the hook and cast it in the pond – and thus your day of leisure and good amusement commences. Only that you forget to close the can. Before you know, all the worms are out on the floor... Suppose you are an amateur (which means you’re fishing for fun and probably not very good at it either), this can ruin your day because you don’t know how to handle the situation. Well, a can of worms once opened and left to their own devices are hard to handle to anyone, be they amateur or an old pro. | 
