At the coal face

[Melanie]

What is the origin of this saying?

[Quizmonster]

In mining, the 'face' is the point at which whatever is being dug out is actually cut, be it coal, gold, iron ore or whatever. 'At the coal face' literally meant just that. Nowadays, it is often used facetiously to mean anywhere where work is actually done. Sometimes it is even jokingly changed...eg teachers sometimes say they work 'at the chalk face'.

[andy hughes]

i think the meaning of the phrase implies that this is where the 'real' work is done. In a mine, the coal face is the hardest palce to work, as well as the most dangerous - miners are cutting into a new coal face, with attendent dust, darkness, back-breaking work (in the manual days at least) and the ever-present danger of a cave-in. The phrase now implies that the person to whom it applies is working in the hardest area of their expertise.