“Bread and butter” is an idiom used to refer to someone’s livelihood or primary source of income. It is a shortened version of the various consumer goods people buy with their wages. “Guns and butter” is a similar idiom used in a political context to talk about the demands of a constituency. Another related idiom is “bread always lands buttered side down,” expressing a negative philosophy of life.
When English speakers use the phrase “bread and butter” in a figurative context, they are talking about someone’s livelihood or source of income. This idiomatic way of describing the ways people make a living is often useful in informal conversations about work and employment. It’s common for English speakers to refer to something as “my bread and butter,” meaning it’s their primary income.
In general, this sentence appears to be an abstraction of the various consumer goods that people buy with their wages. In other words, it is a person’s job or source of income that enables them to buy bread and butter, as well as jams and other foods, and an assorted variety of goods and services. As a popular idiom, English speakers have shortened the grocery list to just “bread and butter,” in the same way some people refer to a minimal menu as “bread and water,” or in the way English speakers might also quote the Bible, saying “man does not live by bread alone”, where bread is a generic designation for food. In fact, the simple word “bread” is also often used to mean money.
A similar phrase, “guns and butter” refers more generally to objects desired by a group of people. This is most often used in the political context to talk about the demands of a constituency. The meaning of this idiom is a contrast between defense spending and welfare spending items, where a government or official authority may have to make tough decisions between “guns” or “butter” and a constituency that wants it both require “rifles”. and butter”. For example, if a state government has to choose between expanding its police force and early education programs, it has a “guns and butter” problem.
Another idiomatic phrase related to bread and butter is used to express a certain philosophy of life. If someone says “bread always lands buttered side down,” they are expressing the idea that if there is an uncertain outcome, that outcome is likely to be bad, or that bad luck is the norm in their life. Here, bread could be seen as prosperity or financial wealth, and falling butter side is a negative outcome that can negatively affect a person’s livelihood or financial future.
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