LogFAQs > #978739930

josh posted...

I thought the phrase 'a massive grain of salt' was meant to emphasize that the following statement or whatever is definitely a grain of salt and shouldn't be taken any other way.

DirtBasedSoap posted...

thats what theyre trying to say but it would be more appropriate if they said take this with the tiniest grain of salt imaginable

That's not what the saying means at all.

The saying is supposed to imply the information isn't "pure". The grain of salt is meant to be an "antidote". In other words, "take this with a grain of salt" is basically saying "don't assume this is true".

Taking it with a massive grain of salt means that the info is so impure, you actually need a much larger chunk of salt. It's saying the information being given is so unlikely or potentially untrue that you really need to emphasize the need to counter it (with purifying salt).


In other words, the accurate way to view the idiom is like this:

"Take this with a grain of salt" = "this might not be true, be skeptical"
"Take this with a massive grain of salt" = "this is almost certainly not true, be extremely skeptical"


"Take this with the tiniest grain of salt imaginable" would actually be akin to saying "This is almost certainly true, you should probably be willing to trust this." Because it means you barely need the salt, because the information is mostly "pure".