Youmay think, salt is just a simple cooking element we shake on our food for alittle extra taste. But salt is much more than that. Without salt our muscleswould not move. Our nervous systems would not operate. Our hearts would notbeat.
Butdo not think rubbing salt in a wound will help. Doing that would be painful andnot heal the wound. To rub salt in a wound is an idiom that means topurposefully make a bad situation worse.
Earlyhumans got the salt they needed to stay alive from the animals they killed. Butadvances in agriculture led to a diet low in salt. So, humans needed to findother sources. Those who lived near the ocean or other natural sources for saltwere lucky. Those who did not had to trade for salt. In fact, people used saltas a method of payment in many parts of the ancient world. The word “salary”comes from the word “salt”．
Saltalso played an important part in population movement and world exploration.Explorers understood that if they could keep food fresh, they could travel longerdistances. So they used salt to preserve food and explored the world.
Saltwas so important that, according to food historians. It was tradedpoundforpound for gold. Today, people still use the expressions “to be worthone's salt” or “worth one's weight in salt”. The expressions describe a personof value.
Aperson might also be called salt of the earth. That description means he or sheis dependable and trustworthy. However, when you say “I think we should takewhat he said with a grain of salt” you mean you accept it but maintain a degreeof doubt about its truth.
