APAD: Take a back seat

Meaning:

   To `take a back seat' is take a subordinate or reclusive position.

 

Background:

   This phrase has a straightforward and literal derivation. It alludes simply

   to the back seats, of a coach, a theatre, a gaming table etc., being less

   prominent than the others. It originated in the USA in the mid 19th century.

   As we might expect, the earliest uses of the phrase merely refer to people

   sitting at the back.

 

   An early example from The Washingtonian, July 1845 seems to be moving part of

   the way from a literal to a figurative sense:

 

     He took a seat at the [poker] table, and they dealt him a hand. It wasn't

     long before... he was broke, and compelled to take a "back seat."

 

   The use there of back seat in quotation marks suggests that the expression

   had a meaning beyond the position of the seat. The context of the citation

   suggests that those who weren't in a position to make a bet sat at the back.

 

   The first use that I can find of an unambiguously figurative use of the

   phrase, that is, one where no actual seat is occupied, comes from The Daily

   Wisconsin Patriot, May 1859:

 

     "The despised foreign born slave - the much hated and often cursed `Irish,'

     `Dutch' and `Norwegians,' must take a back seat in the exercise of all the

     foregoing announced privileges [voting, jury duty etc.] - no man of foreign

     birth can vote until two years after he shall have received his full

     papers."

 

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

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If the Irish, Dutch, and Norwegians were much hated and cursed and kept in the

back seats, the Asians must be kept at the door, had they ever been curious

enough to knock.

 

So much has changed since 1859 but I still feel the lack of English (which is

really the lack of knowledge) and maybe courage has kept me at the back seat in

this American life.