Remember The Salt
Ever wonder the origin of the phrase “take it with a grain of salt?” I recently did a bit of research* (meaning I Googled it), and here’s what I found out…
It originated in the first century with Pliney the Elder. Pliney led an amazing life, and he had a real knack for writing.** He wrote a great deal about philosophy and natural history. One of the subjects he wrote about was poison, for it seems that back in Ole’ Pliny’s day, a good deal of one’s energy was devoted to avoiding death by poison. Maybe it was poison slipped to you via some enemy, or maybe it was poison delivered via some piece of undercooked meat. Either way, dealing with poison must have been a fairly regular occurrence because Pliney had his own tried and true concoction to protect against this. He wrote:
Take two dried walnuts, two figs, and twenty leaves of rue; pound them all together, with the addition of a grain of salt; if a person takes this mixture fasting, he will be proof against all poisons for that day.
If I’m understanding this correctly, according to Pliney, if we grind the recommended nuts, figs and leaves together and take them on an empty stomach along with that magic grain of salt, we’ll be safe. Maybe it’s because it was the final ingredient, or maybe it’s because it seems so bizarrely precise that a single grain of anything could have an impact, but it’s the grain of salt we reference when we want a metaphor for protecting ourselves from any sentiment that could damage us, intentionally or not. It’s a fair warning, passed on to us through centuries of collective human wisdom, that what we say to each other can do just as much damage as poison, and that we might want to inoculate ourselves. It’s a reminder to take stock and make sure our priorities are straight and our convictions are internalized before considering another’s opinion. It’s quite likely the advice isn’t meant to do harm, but just because someone’s not an enemy doesn’t mean their sentiments aren’t careless or simply “undercooked.”
