the.com/seniority
Proof that surviving somewhere long enough quietly outranks being good at it.
means Priority or rank earned by length of service or age rather than by current performance.
from From Latin senior, 'older,' the comparative of senex, 'old man' — the same root that gives us 'senile' and 'senate,' a council originally imagined as a body of elders. The word passed through French into English in the 1400s, carrying its built-in logic: the longer you've been around, the more weight your voice gets, whether or not time actually improved it.
- origin logic
- Rewards tenure, not talent, by design
- union roots
- Built to stop favoritism, created its own kind
- layoff rule
- Often last hired, first fired, literally
- paradox
- The newest ideas report to the oldest chairs