Query: why "salt and pepper" but not "pepper and salt"?

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:46 AM -0500 5/18/05, Michael McKernan wrote:
>Gerald Cohen asked:
>
>>This evening I received the following query: Why do we always say "salt
>>and pepper" and never "pepper and salt?"
>>
>>    I suppose the answer is that salt is more important.
>>  One may have just salt on the table, or both salt and pepper, but rarely
>>only pepper.
>>
>>    Or am I missing something?
>
>Most people on the planet (the English and their ancestors included) had
>salt long before they had pepper, so there might be an argument based on
>time of introduction, as well as importance.
>
>Interesting how these two phrases, as I hear them, both place the rhythmic
>accent on salt:
>
>/salt' - and pepper/ (as in 'Dragnet' theme)
>
>and
>
>/pepper and salt' -/ (as in Beethoven's Fifth)
>
>In my (limited, obviously) personal experience, 'salt and pepper' is much
>more common than 'pepper and salt,' to the extent that the latter stands
>out as an attention-getter because of its unexpected reversal of the
>ordinary phrase.  (Probably explains why Beethoven borrowed the rhythm,
>since he was known to be so fond of English food, wasn't he?  Anyway, he
>certainly wanted the attention.)

Actually, he started out with the "salt and pepper" pattern, but his
lawyer warned him that the writers of "Love and Marriage" might sue
for plagiarism, so he switched.

Larry