A: Mary said she was so scared to go out or get into contact with people during this outbreak that she had eaten instant noodles for meals for two weeks. B: You have to take everything she says with a pinch of salt, because she tends to exaggerate. Note: This idiom means “to accept something while maintaining a degree of scepticism about its truth.” A pinch of salt (or a grain of salt) is a very small amount of salt, so this idiom starts with the idea that most food tastes better with a little bit of salt. If someone is telling you something that is probably not entirely true or correct, it is easier to swallow it with a pinch of salt than to argue against it. |