Never mind that anyone with even a superficial knowledge of 18th-century English would immediately realize that "pickle" in this context means "condiment," rendering the aphorism both intelligible and witty (although not particularly original).
Consequently orthopaedic trainees are trained towards proficiency with internal fixation methods, and have only a superficial knowledge of external fixation.
Many recruits from the UK, Belgium or France were young men of immigrant background with records for petty, and sometimes serious, crime and a superficial knowledge of the faith they professed to follow.
Too often, he writes, historians have a superficial knowledge of the Bible, and scholars of religion have a limited knowledge of Southern culture.
I have only a superficial knowledge of Keynes's economic theory, but as the biographer of his wife, Lydia Lopokova, I do know about his marriage.
Others, betraying a superficial knowledge of Islamic theology, assert that Muslim thought ceased to be fruitful 800 years ago.
It means being a universal person who has at least a superficial knowledge of every aspect of the business he/she is in.
Before the trip, the young man from the Northeast possessed only a superficial knowledge of what was happening in the southern United States in the mid-1960s.
Most firms have a cleantech partner who is essentially a reincarnated software investor with superficial knowledge of water, energy or battery technology.
With my superficial knowledge of its geography (some 18,000 lush, volcanic islands) and culture (mostly Muslim, with Hindu, Buddhist, animist, Chinese and Dutch inflections), wouldn't Indonesia — and specifically Java, its cultural and political center — be the perfect spot to plunge blindly into for a week, without guidebook, map or personal contacts?
