Grain of salt
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
(With) a grain of salt is a literal translation of an ancient Latin phrase, (cum) grano salis.
In common tongue, 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.
The phrase comes from Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia, regarding the discovery of 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.
To take 'it' with a grain of salt means 'to accept a thing less than fully.' The Oxford English Dictionary dates this usage back to 1647. The terms are not dissimilar – both essentially mean to regard certain things with some understanding and common sense.
