We (in Germany) use salt in winter to defrost the pavement and streets but it doesn’t have a big effect on the weeds. They still appear from any crack they can find.
I remember hearing that the Sahara desert was created by Romans salting the earth.
That can’t possibly be true?
Also I wonder how it is connected to Jesus saying ‘you are the salt of the earth’. That seems like am entirely different thing, but then again maybe not?
I feel like the most modern equivalent is Vietnam.
“Salting the Earth” is an idiom that references possibly apocryphal stories of ancient warfare where an invading army would literally put large amounts of salt or salt water in the enemy’s fields so that they wouldn’t be able to grow crops. This was done to make sure that the population couldn’t rebuild and become a threat in the future. Nowadays it is used to mean that someone is making really, really sure that something is destroyed and not coming back.
affenlehrer@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Sorry, I still don’t get the part about “salting the earth”. Is that something people do to get rid of weeds?
saltesc@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yep. Did this recently actually lol.
But also commonly known as a war thing, done to render the enemy’s land infertile. Can’t grow food for a while and stuff.
Neither of these things really make much sense in context, though.
affenlehrer@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
We (in Germany) use salt in winter to defrost the pavement and streets but it doesn’t have a big effect on the weeds. They still appear from any crack they can find.
artifactsofchina@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I remember hearing that the Sahara desert was created by Romans salting the earth.
That can’t possibly be true?
Also I wonder how it is connected to Jesus saying ‘you are the salt of the earth’. That seems like am entirely different thing, but then again maybe not?
I feel like the most modern equivalent is Vietnam.
Saapas@piefed.zip 3 weeks ago
No, Romans didn’t make the Sahara. The myth is usually that they salted the earth when they destroyed Carthage but that isn’t true either
BartyDeCanter@lemmy.sdf.org 3 weeks ago
“Salting the Earth” is an idiom that references possibly apocryphal stories of ancient warfare where an invading army would literally put large amounts of salt or salt water in the enemy’s fields so that they wouldn’t be able to grow crops. This was done to make sure that the population couldn’t rebuild and become a threat in the future. Nowadays it is used to mean that someone is making really, really sure that something is destroyed and not coming back.
fossilesque@mander.xyz 3 weeks ago
Yes.
affenlehrer@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
And it’s just as bad / good as glyphosate?
quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
No, salt is not toxic.
marcos@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
It’s way worse than glyphosate. Nothing grows until it washes up, what can take many years.
lobut@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Homer Simpson’s take on it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0BxqHgwlvs