salami technique

English

Etymology

From the idea of cutting a salami one small slice at a time.

Noun

salami technique (plural salami techniques)

1. The reaching of a goal by using small, consistent steps.
   • 1955, Marguerite Higgins, News is a Singular Thing:

     The salami technique was developed by the Communists in response to the need for fooling the majority of the people in any given country during the critical period of the Red takeover.

   • 1986, Ann Smith Rice, Suzanne M. Tucker, Family Life Management:

     Bliss recommends using a salami technique to overcome procrastination. Whether dealing with salami or a task, cut the subject into as many small manageable slices as possible and both become more appetizing.

   • 1992, Lars Frank, EDP-security:

     The salami technique is a special case of the Trojan Horse. The idea here is to use program to remove many small quantities, each quantity being so small in itself that no one notices what is happening.

   • 1998, Rick Howard, Jamie Lash, This Was Your Life!:

     Divide the large, difficult job into small, manageable, bite-sized pieces. Then assign a deadline to each step. Were it not for the salami technique, you would not be reading these words because I would never have written them. I despised writing for the first 33 years of my life.

   • 2008, James R. Norton, The Holocaust: Jews, Germany, and the National Socialists[1]:

     The government used something called the salami technique—discrimination enacted one thin slice at a time.

Related terms

• salami-slice
• salami slicing
• salami tactics

Translations

reaching of a goal using small, consistent steps

• French: politique du saucissonnage (fr) f
• German: Salamitaktik (de) f

See also

• piecemeal
• step-by-step