<P> "(With) a grain of salt", (or "a pinch of salt") is an idiom of the English language, which means to view something with scepticism or not to interpret something literally . </P> <P> 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 . 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 . </P> <P> 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"). </P> <P> An alternative account says that the Roman general Pompey believed 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 . </P>

Where did the saying grain of salt come from