fair shake of the sauce bottle
- idiom
- Australian
- Everyone should get a fair shake of the sauce bottle when it comes to promotions.
Examples
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The policy is meant to ensure a fair shake of the sauce bottle for all employees.
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He argued that his team never had a fair shake of the sauce bottle in the competition.
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Everyone deserves a fair shake of the sauce bottle in life.
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Did you give him a fair shake of the sauce bottle during the meeting?
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Everyone deserves a fair shake of the sauce bottle when it comes to job opportunities.
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The new rules were created to ensure that every participant gets a fair shake of the sauce bottle in the selection process.
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In this project, the team aimed to provide a fair shake of the sauce bottle so that all voices were heard.
Synonyms
A situation where everyone has the same fair chance to succeed
An equal chance to succeed and be treated the same as others
A situation where everyone has an equal chance and no one has unfair advantages
An equal chance to take part or benefit
To ask for everyone to have an equal chance
An even chance for everyone to take part
Antonyms
How Fair
- Australian
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
fair + shake + of + the + sauce + bottle
The constituents 'fair' and the image of a 'shake' from a 'sauce bottle' do transparently evoke the idea of a fair amount or share, so a learner could plausibly infer a literal sense of receiving an equitable portion. However, the phrase is a regional/colloquial metaphor whose extension to 'an opportunity to participate or succeed' is idiomatic and culturally specific, so the precise pragmatic meaning is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Fair shake of the sauce bottle may come from a simple table scene: when people pass a bottle of sauce, each person gets a quick shake to get some from the sauce bottle. If someone did not get a fair shake of the sauce bottle, they missed an equal turn, so today the phrase means 'a fair chance' or 'an equal share'.