# "the pepper dash in the mine salt" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pepper-dash-in-the-mine-salt/693602 "2014-07-20T15:38:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pepper-dash-in-the-mine-salt/693602/1 "2014-07-20T15:38:32Z")
Someone called me this the other day. I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be a compliment. Perhaps something like “adding a little spiciness to the blandness around you.” But I’ve never heard it before, and with the person who said it to me, you never can tell exactly what she means. And googling turns up nothing. Anyone know more specifically what the expression is about? The person in question is eastern European, has lived in the US for about ten years. Her English is generally quite good. It sounds like an expression translated directly from a home language…but perhaps someone has the straight dope on this one? Worth a try, anyway! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pepper-dash-in-the-mine-salt/693602/2 "2014-07-21T13:06:27Z")
Well I can’t figure out a bad meaning from it. It doesn’t seem to have two meanings. For any use of “you are bad like mine salt”, it doesn’t make any sense to add a dash of pepper to it, its absurd to mention a dash of pepper in a mine of salt, unless the rarity is the point. rarity- like " You are one in a million". ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pepper-dash-in-the-mine-salt/693602/3 "2014-07-21T13:20:24Z")
IIRC, “salt mine” is a Europeanism for “salt shaker”, so the saying could be analogous to “You’re a speck of pepper in a salt shaker” - I.e., you’re out of place and highly noticeable for it. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pepper-dash-in-the-mine-salt/693602/4 "2014-07-21T13:23:09Z")
Maybe it was a variant on “You are the salt to my pepper.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pepper-dash-in-the-mine-salt/693602/5 "2014-07-21T15:50:29Z")
I agree with the others. It either means that you are very, very good or very, very bad. Or that you are sometimes very good and at other times very bad. Or that you are simultaneously very good and very bad until you are observed in doing one and collapse the waveform. I like her mind. She’s a keeper. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pepper-dash-in-the-mine-salt/693602/6 "2014-07-21T17:13:46Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > IIRC, “salt mine” is a Europeanism for “salt shaker” :dubious: Where in Europe would that be? Certainly not Britain, and most of the other Europeans don’t speak English at all (well, not at home). ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pepper-dash-in-the-mine-salt/693602/7 "2014-07-21T17:27:51Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > IIRC, “salt mine” is a Europeanism for “salt shaker”, so the saying could be analogous to “You’re a speck of pepper in a salt shaker” - I.e., you’re out of place and highly noticeable for it. > [@njtt](#): > > :dubious: Where in Europe would that be? I haven’t heard it used that way either, but I have heard it used as slang for the workplace. That lends support to interpreting it as you being the spice in an otherwise boring place. Or it could mean you’re a contaminant that needs to be cleaned out. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pepper-dash-in-the-mine-salt/693602/8 "2014-07-21T19:46:25Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > IIRC, “salt mine” is a Europeanism for “salt shaker” :dubious: Salt cellar, surely?