below the salt

below the salt

In or at a position of low or common standing, rank, regard, or repute. The term is derived from the social hierarchy of nobility in medieval times, in which salt, a precious commodity then, was set in the middle of the dining table. Those of high noble rank were seated "above the salt," that is, closer to the lord and lady of the house, while those in lower social standing were seated "below" it. Robert's tech firm bankrupted last month, so I guess he's back to sitting below the salt with us again. I know it makes me a snob, but I just consider these big summer blockbusters to be rather below the salt.
See also: below, salt
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

below the salt

Less socially acceptable, socially inferior. Due to the difficulty of production in cold climates, salt was an expensive and exclusive commodity in medieval England. At that time, the nobility sat at the dining hall's “high table” whereas their servants and other commoners ate at lower trestle tables. Dishes or containers of salt were placed on the high table where only people of sufficient social rank had access to them. To be “below [or beneath] the salt” came to mean being less well regarded than other people.
See also: below, salt
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • beneath the salt
  • sit beneath the salt
  • above the salt
  • sit below the salt
  • ranking
  • rank above
  • rank above (someone or something)
  • rank below (someone or something)
  • rank higher than (one)
  • promote (one) to (something)
References in classic literature
At this, above the salt, sat the visiting nobles and the grown members of their families, of both sexes, -- the resident Court, in effect -- sixty-one per- sons; below the salt sat minor officers of the house- hold, with their principal subordinates: altogether a hundred and eighteen persons sitting, and about as many liveried servants standing behind their chairs, or serving in one capacity or another.
Then up spake the Prior and called upon one of the brethren that sat below the salt, and bade him look out of the window and see who was below, albeit he knew right well it could be none but Sir Richard.
The result confirms the extension of the Agogo reservoir to the north of the discovery well and below the salt diapirs.
According to the hydrogeological characteristics of Jintan salt mine, there are effective water-resisting layers with considerable thickness along the longitudinal direction and above and below the salt layer, which are mainly reflected in the following three aspects:
We've all heard the expressions "above the salt" and "below the salt", but not everyone knows how they originated.
The "pre-sal" (below the salt) reserves, so named because they lie under several thousand meters of encrusted salt, are enormous.
"The poor pudding is thus relegated from among prestigious ready-to-eat sausage rolls, pork pies, roast ham and pastrami to sit below the salt with the humble liver and kidneys."
(Sadly, those of us "below the salt" had to make do with our field rations.)
In addition, the company said Lafitte is its third ultra-deep prospect to encounter Miocene age sands below the salt weld on the GOM Shelf and it holds a 72.0% working interest and a 58.3% net revenue interest in Lafitte.
They met when Stovepipe was in the Inkwell Rhythm Makers and Alex was in Below the Salt, a news release says.
She left behind senior officers who considered her among the best and a generation of younger officers who, serving with and alongside of her, benefited from her inclusiveness, from listening and watching while seated "below the salt," from being given real assignments and responsibilities, and from her integrity and high standards.
Petrobras' new reserve estimate came after a year of speculation that a second province the size of Brazil's Campos Basin could lie below the salt layer.
Figure 2c corresponds to a ADCIG below the sedimentary section (CMP 3040 m in Figure 1) and Figure 2d to a ADCIG below the salt body (CMP position 12000 m in Figure 1).
speed record, the team went to Tunisia in June to attempt the world record, but late rains delayed the hardening of the mud below the salt crust, rendering the track unfit for competition.