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).
Adverb
with a grain of salt (not comparable)
- (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.
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
- Icelandic: með saltkorni (taka e-u með saltkorni)
- 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)
- Thai: ฟังหูไว้หู (fang-hǔu-wái-hǔu, literally “listen with one ear, hold the other ear”)
- Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
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