grind

[user_gary]

A celebrity's life may seem to be all glitz and glamour, but for these celebs, the daily grind once meant going to school like the rest of us. Here's what they have to say about their school days.

Please explain the highlighed one.

[Delmobile]

It means ordinary, difficult daily work. I don't know when the expression first came into use, but the idea, I believe, is that the hard work eventually grinds one down, like grain in a mill.

Many coffee shops take advantage of the expression to name their establishments, making a pun--coffee beans are ground, and ideally you will buy a cup of their coffee every day.

[user_gary]

Again thank you Delmobile for your help.

But I am so weak in English that even I cannot understand your explanation.

Could you explain it in some other simple way? (particularly I can't understand -- the hard work eventually grinds one down.

[Delmobile]

Grain placed under the millwheel is changed. It becomes as fine as dust. It is "ground down."

People under the "millwheel" of hard work every day also can be changed. They are "ground down."

Does that help?

Another expression is "back to the salt mine." Working in a salt mine is very hard and unpleasant. Here is an example: a person is returning to his office job after lunch. He says to his friend, "Now we must go back to the salt mine!" He does not really think his office work is as bad as working in a salt mine. He is making a joke.