Learn English – Connotations of “Salt of the earth”

idioms

I called my friend "salt of the earth" recently. I meant it in the best way possible – he is representative of moral goodness.

But when I looked up the definition, I became a bit uncertain of my usage. I found two definitions:

  1. an individual or group considered as representative of the best or noblest elements of society.

  2. Basic, fundamental goodness; the phrase can be used to describe any simple, good person: “I like Mary: she's reliable, trustworthy, and straightforward; she's the salt of the Earth.” In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his followers, who are mainly fishermen and other simple people, “Ye are the salt of the Earth.”

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/salt+of+the+earth

The first definition fits my compliment very well. "Representative of the best or noblest elements of society". But I dislike the second definition. I surely DID NOT mean to call my friend simple, since, after all, he is a very sophisticated scientist.

I want to know whether the connotation of "simple goodness" or "goodness in being simple" is common with this expression? Is that what people understand it to mean? Or did I use it in the right way?

Update: So there seem to be two types of responses – 1. whether I insulted my friend 2. whether there actually is an implication of being unsophisticated in the phrase.

I'm actually not interested in question (1), I'm only interested in question (2).

Best Answer

If a word or expression can be taken one of two ways, but you meant it as a compliment, chances are it will be interepreted as a compliment. If someone called me the salt of the earth, I probably wouldn't stay up at night tossing and turning, wondering if I had just been called a simpleton, and fretting because I should have been able to devise a clever, on-the-spot retort (such as, "Thanks – and you're the fertilizer of the earth").

Given that the phrase is usually used in a complimentary fashion (provided one has not "lost his saltiness"), I don't think you have to worry about an inadvertant insult. It might be worth mentioning that one author opined:

To call a person “the salt of the earth” remains one of the highest compliments that can be paid.
Source: Wick Allison, That's in the Bible?: The Ultimate Learn-As-You-Play Bible Quiz Book, 2009.

However, I'd say that the phrase is more old-fashioned than contemporary, and it might strike a secular scientist as rather quaint.

Although I don't think you've insulted anyone, I'm not sure I can give a full-fledged recommendation to employ the compliment often.

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