Number-one salt

winnie

winnie

Senior Member
italy, italian
Hi everybody!

Pratchett again...

"He was standing next to someone Brutha vaguely recognized as number-one salt or whatever his title was." (From Small Gods)

Is there a title in the Navy which resembles (phonetically) those words?
Or have I to take "number-one" as "prime"?
If this is the case what does it mean "salt"? According to me it's phonetically very similar to "Saul" but I can't see how it does fit!

As usual many thanks in advance.
 
    • There is no title like that in the NAVY. It could mean the 'one in charge'. So if 'He was standing next to the number one salt', he was standing to the highest ranking person there
     
    I have read somewhere that sea salt as reffering to the sailors, is coming from the notion that it takes the length of time that it takes to consume 16 lb. of salt to really know a man. Thats about 16-20 year or an average life of a man in the navy in 17-19 century.
     
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