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 (AU)

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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: tage 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: (directly equivalent, but learned) cum grano salis (de), mit einem Körnchen Salz, (otherwise depending on the context) mit gesundem Menschenverstand, mit gewissem Vorbehalt, nicht wortwörtlich, nicht auf die Goldwaage legen, nicht blind glauben
• 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)

See also

• with all the salt in the Dead Sea