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In the armies of days gone by, the ordinary foot soldiers formed up in lines where they stood shoulder to shoulder, which were called ranks, or in lines where they stood one behind the other, which were called files. This terminology has been carried forward in the description of the chessboard.

But for the purposes of this expression, the "rank and file" soldiers were the soldiers who formed up in ranks and files, which is to say, the ordinary infantrymen. They were just regular guys, with nothing much to distinguish them on the face of it. If one got killed, another one would take his place.

By analogy, rank and file employees are that large group of undistinguished employees who are essential as a group but not as individuals, as infantrymen were.

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12y ago

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