Twice, yesterday I heard television presenters use the expression "take it with a pinch of salt".
Now I know I sound a bit Humpty-Dumpty-ish, but when I use this expression I know what I mean by it. I mean that although I accept what you are saying for now, I don't necessarily actually believe it.
The expression can be applied solely to information: things I've heard or read, so I couldn't understand its application in the two instances on television yesterday. One was referring to a film which might work for a documentary but this was a drama. How can you take an acknowledged work of fiction with a pinch of salt?
The other was even more unlikely. It was on a "best of the Antiques Roadshow" program and was used by a presenter to refer to a dress, not to its provenance but to the dress itself.
Am I wrong about the meaning of the phrase? Is me that's been misusing it all these years? Or is it that the people using it on TV don't really know the meaning?
Now I know I sound a bit Humpty-Dumpty-ish, but when I use this expression I know what I mean by it. I mean that although I accept what you are saying for now, I don't necessarily actually believe it.
The expression can be applied solely to information: things I've heard or read, so I couldn't understand its application in the two instances on television yesterday. One was referring to a film which might work for a documentary but this was a drama. How can you take an acknowledged work of fiction with a pinch of salt?
The other was even more unlikely. It was on a "best of the Antiques Roadshow" program and was used by a presenter to refer to a dress, not to its provenance but to the dress itself.
Am I wrong about the meaning of the phrase? Is me that's been misusing it all these years? Or is it that the people using it on TV don't really know the meaning?
1 comment:
I always thought it was "grain of salt". Either way, I agree, it means I'm giving you information, but I'm not certain it's accurate.
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