What do they mean when they say someone opened a can of worms?

Question

What do they mean when they say someone opened a can of worms?

Answer 1

It means that whatever it was that they did,it caused alot of problems.

Answer 2

As well as meaning someone has caused a lot of trouble, it sometimes means the person that caused it didn't care enough to clean up after themselves.

Answer 3

If you were to open a can packed full of live worms, the worms would run all over the place and it would be very hard, if not impossible, to catch them all and put them all back in the can and close it without harming them. So, what that expression means is that if you open a topic (start talking about something) it will be difficult or impossible to forget about what you have just mentioned.... For example, you find out that your best friend had an affair, then you mention it to his/her spouse. You have just opened up a can of worms. It will be almost impossible that no one will remember what you said and that it won't have an effect on your friend's marriage.

Answer 4

If you look at a can of worms, the worms are all tangled up together.  So that means the problems will be all tangled together.