In the British military a subaltern is an officer who ranks below a captain; as a result of his low status, a subaltern is often asked to work through the meal hour, leading to the phrase subaltern’s luncheon, a meal the officer partakes of by drinking a glass of water and tightening his belt. The phrase was first recorded at the turn of the nineteenth century, but a hundred years earlier the name subaltern’s butter had also been applied to the avocado, this greasy fruit perhaps being the only edible oil product remaining by the time the subaltern finished his shift. The word subaltern derives from the Late Latin subalternus, meaning subordinate.