the.com/rank and file
The people who do the work, not the people who take the credit.
means The ordinary members of a group or organization, as distinct from its leaders — the many rather than the few in charge.
from Straight out of military formation: 'rank' was the horizontal line of soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder, and 'file' was the column running front to back. Together they meant the whole body of ordinary soldiers, as opposed to the officers who stood apart and gave orders. By the 1800s the phrase marched out of the army and into unions, parties, and workplaces, keeping its original sense intact — the many who stand in formation, not the few who command it.
- origin
- Military term for soldiers in formation lines
- meaning shift
- Now means ordinary members, not leaders
- usage
- Unions love this phrase, executives avoid it
- irony
- Leaders exist only because rank and file do