# "Grain of salt"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grain-of-salt/376177>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 12, 2006, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grain-of-salt/376177 "2006-10-12T12:19:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grain-of-salt/376177/1 "2006-10-12T12:19:48Z")

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How did the term “grain of salt” come to mean _a little bit of skepticism_?  
As in, when responding to an item of speculative information, someone will say, “I’ld take that with a grain of salt” as opposed to saying, “I’ld be a little bit skeptical of that info.” It is a colorful phrase but seemingly meaningless.

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grain-of-salt/376177/2 "2006-10-12T12:27:14Z")

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IIRC, the phrase is really old. In Latin it’s _cum grano salis_, meaning literally the same thing. I’ve always assumed that it meant that the information couldn’t be taken on its own (at face value), but needed some seasoning (you had to know the background i9n order to know how much to trust it and properly interpret ir).  
But you know how those assumptions are – often even the logical ones turn out to be incorrect. Take it with a grain of salt.

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grain-of-salt/376177/3 "2006-10-12T12:30:35Z")

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From [Word Detective](http://www.word-detective.com/052598.html):

> [@](#):
>
> It’s actually a translation of the Latin phrase “cum grano salis.” There seems to be a bit of a debate about the significance of the Latin phrase, however. Etymologist Christine Ammer traces it to Pompey’s discovery, recorded by Pliny in 77 A.D., of an antidote to poison which had to be taken with a small amount of salt to be effective. Everyone else seems to bypass that explanation and trace “with a grain of salt” to the dinner table, where a dash of salt can often make uninspired cooking more palatable. “With a grain of salt” first appeared in English in 1647, and has been in constant use since then.

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**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grain-of-salt/376177/4 "2006-10-12T16:28:24Z")

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There’s also the related Latin phrase, _Sal Atticum_, literally, Attic salt (that is, salt from Attica), which means simply “wit.” This, taken together with the phrase _cum grano salis_, says to me that the concept of a whoosh was known to the ancients.

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grain-of-salt/376177/5 "2006-10-12T18:00:50Z")

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When something seems unnecessarily expensive, some folks say, “That’s pretty salty.”