below the salt
- idiom
- Archaic
:
de bajo rango
- Interns sometimes sense they are below the salt compared to permanent staff.
Examples
-
As a junior associate, she often felt below the salt during board meetings.
-
Despite his talent, he was seated below the salt at the award banquet.
-
He feels below the salt in his new job.
-
Being treated below the salt made her unhappy.
-
As a junior associate, she often felt below the salt during board meetings.
-
Despite his talent, he was seated below the salt at the award banquet.
-
Interns sometimes sense they are below the salt compared to permanent staff.
Synonyms
46
4.2
A person of low rank or importance, for example a servant
2
7.6
A person who has a low rank in a group or at work
1
3.8
A person who has a less important job or less power in an organization
How Important
353
3.9
∞
1.0
683
1.0
- Archaic
46
4.2
104
4.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
below + the + salt
The meaning 'in a position of low status' is not deducible from the literal words 'below' and 'salt'—a learner would read it as a spatial relation to salt rather than a social ranking. The expression is historically and culturally specific (originating from medieval table seating and the position of the salt) and thus idiomatic and unpredictable for a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Below the salt may come from long ago when a large salt container sat on the dining table and the most important people sat 'above' the salt while less important guests sat below the salt. So today, to be below the salt means to be in a 'low status' or less important position.