A few days ago
bcwireless420420

Can someone please explain the saying.. With a Grain of Salt..?

thx

Top 10 Answers
A few days ago
boycat99

Favorite Answer

(With) a grain of salt is a literal translation of a Latin phrase, (***) grano salis. A pinch of salt may also be used.

In common parlance, if something is to be taken with a grain of salt, it means that a measure of healthy skepticism should be applied regarding a claim; that it should not be blindly accepted and believed without any doubt or reservation. According to the Oxford English Dictionary “to take ‘it’ with a grain of salt” means “to accept a thing less than fully”. It dates this usage back to 1647.

Another meaning is ‘with moderation’, and it is related to the way someone uses something. It probably refers to the activity of cooking, where only a pinch of salt is sufficient to enhance the flavour of a dish. In this sense, using something ‘*** grano salis’ means to use it with moderation.

The phrase comes from Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia, regarding the discovery of a recipe for an antidote to a poison. In the antidote, one of the ingredients was a grain of salt. Threats involving the poison were thus to be taken “with a grain of salt” and therefore less seriously.

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A few days ago
conductorbrat
If someone says “Take it with a grain of salt,” he/she means, “Do not think that this is absolutely fact.” A grain of salt is a very small thing. It is not weighty or credible. So… when something is “taken with a grain of salt” it is not given much importance because it is either not proven or not credible or both.
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A few days ago
The Electro Ferret
If you’ve ever had a french fry with no salt at all on it, you know that it’s all but tasteless; it takes adding salt to give it some flavor. That’s a modern example, nowhere near as old as the expression, but it holds true with many older foods, and not necessarily when dealing with flavor. Meat had to be salted for preservation. Thus, information that should be taken with a grain of salt is information that could be inaccurate and should not be used in any important way unless backed up by another source–the ‘salt.’
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A few days ago
Ratchet1957
Back in the olden days during the Inquisition when people were being tortured and had open wounds grains of salt would be put in the open wound to speed up the torture process , Salt mixed with blood burns like hell ! If you have ever been sweating and cut yourself you know how much that burns !

so the phrase “taking it with a grain of salt” means you might not like what your gonna hear ,it may be hurtful for you to have to hear it ! So take it with a grain of salt !

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A few days ago
Anonymous
A grain of salt, in its self, is very insignificant and unimportant, hence something may be of little value when the phrase is used.
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A few days ago
GURU
how big is a grain of salt?…small huh? so if it were lost or missing,there wouldnt be any big concern, right?… same theory. if something is taken with a grain of salt, then it is as trivial or not found with merrit. so hear it but think on it …ok?
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A few days ago
Laura B
Ages ago salt was the most valuable commodity and was used in place of money….ergo taking with a grain of salt was putting a value on something or someone.
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A few days ago
Anonymous
The phrase comes from the Romans. In Latin it’s ” Con granus salis “. It means to be skeptical. Why salt ? I don’t know.
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A few days ago
Echo
Do not place too much importance to it
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A few days ago
SLOMO
it means don’t worry about it to much its not a big deal

or its probably not true

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