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Is there a Japanese idiom equivalent to "take with a grain of salt"?

In other words, an idiom which means "don't accept this information as
completely true or the complete truth".
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-04-10T05:24:41.887
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2012-04-10T06:17:33.727
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translation idioms
Japanese idiom equivalent to "take with a grain of salt"
This may be close to that phrase:

>
> [話{はなし}半{はん}分{ぶん}](http://eow.alc.co.jp/%E8%A9%B1%E5%8D%8A%E5%88%86/UTF-8/)に聞く

`話半分` denotes where roughly half of what is said is a truth, and half is a
falsehood or exaggeration [according to
Daijirin](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E8%A9%B1%E5%8D%8A%E5%88%86&dtype=0&dname=0ss&stype=0).

Another similar phrase may be
[`割り引いて聞く`](http://eow.alc.co.jp/%E5%89%B2%E3%82%8A%E5%BC%95%E3%81%84%E3%81%A6%E8%81%9E%E3%81%8F/UTF-8/),
which means something similar to "discount some of what somebody says".

See also [Space ALC](http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=take%20grain%20salt) for
more expressions.
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2012-04-10T05:44:50.970
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2012-04-10T06:28:59.950
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answer
For expressing such stories, the phrase `眉唾もの` is close. Or, in the form of a
predicate, you can say `眉に唾をつけて聞く`.
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2012-04-10T14:48:30.363
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2012-04-10T18:33:41.853
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> 鵜呑｛うの｝みにしない

This literally means "don't swallow it whole" (like a pelican), in other words
take it with a grain of salt. For example, when I went clothes shopping
recently in Japan and the staff kept saying I looked so good in various things
I tried on so I ended up buying a bunch of stuff. My Japanese friend later
rebuked me by saying

> 所詮｛しょせん｝奴｛やつ｝らは販売員｛はんばいいん｝なので、店員｛てんいん｝さんの言｛い｝うことを鵜呑{うの}みにしないで。

"The staff are salespeople after all, so take what they say with a grain of
salt." 奴ら here adds a mild derogatory connotation, like "slimy salespeople"
but not as strong.

Other ways partly mentioned by others are also correct:

> Ｘさんの言｛い｝うことを割｛わ｝り引｛び｝いて聞｛き｝く (or 話｛はなし｝半分｛はんぶん｝に聞｛き｝く)
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2016-12-19T11:18:33.193
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