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Pay me with a Grain of Salt: stars go to wiki
A chapter in the book Idioms Explained
I never would have guessed!
by Elizabeth Emerald
FOR EDIFICATION ONLY: NOT FOR RATING
Below are cited two contenders for the origin of the phrase: Take it with a grain of salt.
Neither pertains to an admonition to follow a low-sodium diet. *Perish the thought!*
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google search:
Don't even think of it. This expression is used as a wish that what was just mentioned will never happen. For example, He's going to give another speech? Perish the thought! This phrase appeared in Handel's oratorio Joshua (1748; text by Thomas Morell): “It never shall be said that our allies in vain implor'd our aid. Perish the thought!” Also see god forbid.
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wikipedia
To take something with a "grain of salt" or "pinch of salt" is an English idiom that suggests to view something, specifically claims that may be misleading or unverified, with skepticism or to not interpret something literally.[1]
In the old-fashioned English units of weight, a grain weighs approximately 65 mg, which is about how much table salt a person might pick up between the fingers as a pinch.
History[edit]
Hypotheses of the phrase's origin include Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia, regarding the discovery of a recipe for an antidote to a poison.[2] 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.
The phrase cum grano salis ("with a grain of salt") is not what Pliny wrote. It is constructed according to the grammar of modern European languages rather than Classical Latin. Pliny's actual words were addito salis grano ("after having added a grain of salt").
An alternative account says that the Roman general Pompey believed that he could make himself immune to poison by ingesting small amounts of various poisons, and he took this treatment with a grain of salt to help him swallow the poison. In this version, the salt is not the antidote. It was taken merely to assist in swallowing the poison.
The Latin word sal (salis is the genitive) means both "salt" and "wit", thus the Latin phrase cum grano salis could be translated to either "with a grain of salt" or "with a grain (small amount) of wit", actually to "with caution"/cautiously.[3]
The phrase is typically said "with a pinch of salt" in British English and said "with a grain of salt" in American English.[4]
BONUS TROVE
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/14-expressions-with-crazy-origins-that-you-would-never-have-guessed/
Below are cited two contenders for the origin of the phrase: Take it with a grain of salt.
Neither pertains to an admonition to follow a low-sodium diet. *Perish the thought!*
* * * * * *
google search:
Don't even think of it. This expression is used as a wish that what was just mentioned will never happen. For example, He's going to give another speech? Perish the thought! This phrase appeared in Handel's oratorio Joshua (1748; text by Thomas Morell): “It never shall be said that our allies in vain implor'd our aid. Perish the thought!” Also see god forbid.
* * * * *
wikipedia
To take something with a "grain of salt" or "pinch of salt" is an English idiom that suggests to view something, specifically claims that may be misleading or unverified, with skepticism or to not interpret something literally.[1]
In the old-fashioned English units of weight, a grain weighs approximately 65 mg, which is about how much table salt a person might pick up between the fingers as a pinch.
History[edit]
Hypotheses of the phrase's origin include Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia, regarding the discovery of a recipe for an antidote to a poison.[2] 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.
The phrase cum grano salis ("with a grain of salt") is not what Pliny wrote. It is constructed according to the grammar of modern European languages rather than Classical Latin. Pliny's actual words were addito salis grano ("after having added a grain of salt").
An alternative account says that the Roman general Pompey believed that he could make himself immune to poison by ingesting small amounts of various poisons, and he took this treatment with a grain of salt to help him swallow the poison. In this version, the salt is not the antidote. It was taken merely to assist in swallowing the poison.
The Latin word sal (salis is the genitive) means both "salt" and "wit", thus the Latin phrase cum grano salis could be translated to either "with a grain of salt" or "with a grain (small amount) of wit", actually to "with caution"/cautiously.[3]
The phrase is typically said "with a pinch of salt" in British English and said "with a grain of salt" in American English.[4]
BONUS TROVE
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/14-expressions-with-crazy-origins-that-you-would-never-have-guessed/
Multi-Author Book
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