A grain of salt
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Script error: No such module "about".
To take something with a "grain of salt" or "pinch of salt" is an English idiom that suggests to view something, specifically claims that may be misleading or unverified, with skepticism or not to interpret something literally.[1]
In the old-fashioned English units of weight, a grain weighs approximately 65 mg, which is about how much table salt a person might pick up between the fingers as a pinch.
History
The phrase is thought to come from Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia, regarding the discovery of a recipe written by the Pontic king Mithridates to make someone immune to poison.[2] One of the ingredients in the recipe was a grain of salt. Threats involving poison were thus to be taken "with a grain of salt", and therefore less seriously.
The phrase Script error: No such module "Lang". ("with a grain of salt") is not what Pliny wrote. Pliny's actual words were Script error: No such module "Lang". ("after having added a grain of salt").
The Latin word Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang". is the genitive) means both "salt" and "wit", thus the Latin phrase Script error: No such module "Lang". could be translated to either "with a grain of salt" or "with a grain of wit", actually to "with caution"/cautiously.[3]
The phrase is typically said "with a pinch of salt" in British English and said "with a grain of salt" in American English.[4]
References
External links
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- ↑ Webster's New World College Dictionary
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Book 23: LXXVII: 149.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".