Salt has many uses in expressions. If you click here and here you will be able to read 2 previous articles (More salt/Are you worth your salt?).
Now some more expressions/idioms that use “salt”.
- You are the “salt of the earth”. This means that the person is very helpful, dependable (digno de confianza), unselfish (abnegado), honest and reliable. It has its foundations in the Bible (Matt 1.13). The expression is the same in Spanish: la sal de la Tierra.
- Ricardo is “salting away” all his spare cash. “Salting away” is similar to saving money for a future use. The phrase comes from the practice, many many moons ago, of keeping fish and meat for a long time by covering the flesh with salt. So, saving the meat or fish for a later time was later used figuratively (figuradamente) to refer to saving money for a later use.
- He is an “old salt”. If a mortal be an old salt, he is someone who has sailed (navegado) for many moons. The person is usually hardy (robosto) and forthright (franco). There is a similar expression in Spanish: un viejo lobo de mar.
Will salt ever be the same again? Probably not!
