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Reader question: Please explain “cream of the crop” in the following: “We are doing well but we know we are not the cream of the crop yet. We must keep working hard.” My comments: That’s a great self-assessment, by the way. The modesty and willingness to keep working hard will help you, or anyone, go far. Sounds like a 40 something talking. This attitude, the self-awareness, I mean, we don’t usually associate with the 1980s generation or younger, who all seem to be too full of themselves to be taken seriously. At least it often sounds that way when an older ear hears a youngster talk. The youngster will come along, though, in good time. Or the oldsters will learn to appreciate the young generation better. One way or the other. Anyways, “cream of the crop” is just another creative way of saying you’re best of the bunch. Or, simply, the best. Cream refers to the foamy top of, say, a cup of milk, the part that always “rises to the top”. As Mavens’ Word of the Day (June 8, 2001) explains, it’s the “milkiest part of the milk”: At least in lactose-tolerant regions of the world, where milk is a significant food source even for adults, the cream has probably been looked upon since prehistory as the richest, sweetest, choicest part; the part that rises to the top; the milkiest part of the milk; its very essence. As a luxurious and highly desirable food, skimmed from the milk to be relished alone, whipped, or made into butter, it easily provided a ready and clear metaphor for “the best” or “the quintessential representative” of anything. | 
