Amos Kwok

Worth his salt?

The Latin word for salt is sal. Salt was an important commodity in the Roman empire. It was used to flavour food and more importantly to preserve food at a time when refrigeration did not exist. Roman soldiers were given regular rations of precious salt or they were given an allowance to buy salt. That allowance was called a salarium. And from salarium, we derive our English word salary.

Now, is that where we get the expression, "a worker who is worth his salt"? A quick search reveals that the phrase "worth is salt" goes only as far back as 1830. One appearance was in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island: "It was plain from every line of his body that our new hand was worth his salt."

So is the phrase "worth his salt" related to being paid in salt? I have no idea though it is enticing to link the two.

Words to try: Trope

I came across the word trope in a Guardian blog entry on Asus at this year's CES 2011.

To quote, the article, the line was:

"He's working the Steve Jobs trope, by walking back and forth and talking slowly, but it's not quite as compelling."

 

Trope in this usage is an "overused device", referring to Steve's Jobs habit of walking back and forth on stage. Trope also refers to expressions or themes that have been overused to the point of being a cliche.

Example: When I watched the movie, the director pulled in the usual thriller tropes to the point that I got bored midway through it and fell asleep.