with a grain of salt

English

Etymology

Calque of Latin cum grānō salis (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?), literally with a grain of salt, figuratively with a bit of common sense (from Pliny’s Pompey’s discovery of an antidote against poison to be taken with a grain of salt).

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Adverb

with a grain of salt (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) With a little common sense and skepticism.

   I take anything I read on the Internet with a grain of salt.

   • 2008, John Douglas, Johnny Dodd, Inside the Mind of BTK: The True Story Behind the Thirty-Year Hunt for the Notorious Wichita Serial Killer, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:

     In it, police laid out list of biographical factoids about BTK and urged residents to read it with a grain of salt. Releasing a list of his “claims,” they reasoned, might allow someone, somewhere to make a connection that police couldn't hope to.

Usage notes

• Usually appears modifying the verb take.

Coordinate terms

• face value, pinch of salt, with all the salt in the Dead Sea

Translations

with common sense and skepticism

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} فِي مَحَلِّ شَكّ (fī maḥalli šakk)
• Catalan: reserves (ca) f pl, cautela (ca) f, escepticisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 持懷疑態度／持怀疑态度 (chí huáiyí tàidù) (lit., "to be skeptical")

• Czech: rezerva f
• Danish: med et gran salt
• Dutch: met een korreltje zout
• Finnish: varauksin, varauksellisesti, varauksella (fi), varovasti (fi)
• French: avec des pincettes (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: mit einem Körnchen Salz
• Hebrew: עם קמצוץ מלח ('Im kamtsuts melah), בערבון מוגבל, בהסתייגות מסוימת
• Hungarian: fenntartással
• Italian: col sale in zucca, con un po' di sale in zucca
• Japanese: 話半分 (はなしはんぶん, hanashihanbun)
• Latin: cum grano salis
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: med en klype salt

  Nynorsk: med ei klype salt

• Polish: z przymrużeniem oka (pl)
• Portuguese: cum grano salis (pt)
• Russian: (adverb) скепти́чески (ru) (skeptíčeski), (adverb) недове́рчиво (ru) (nedovérčivo)
• Spanish: coger con pinzas, tomar con pinzas, tomar con reservas, creer la mitad, con un grano de sal
• Swedish: med en nypa salt (sv)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

See also

• with all the salt in the Dead Sea