Episode 293: Salt in the Wound

This week Shauna and Dan rub salt in the wounds to see how it feels. Well, not literally, because they both know it hurts. Bonus: Stubborn spouses, iocaine poisoning, and the tingly tarantula of Trinidad

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Bunny Trails: A Word History Podcast 
Episode 293: Salt in the Wound
Record Date: September 3, 2025 
Air Date: September 17, 2025

Intro

Dan:
Welcome to Bunny Trails, a whimsical adventure of idioms and other turns of phrase. 

I’m Dan Pugh

Shauna:
And I’m Shauna Harrison

Each week we take an idiom or other turn of phrase and try to tell the story from its entry into the English language, to how it’s used today. 

Opening Hook
Usually, I’m a pretty good baker. But recently, I made a cake and I clearly forgot something… because the middle of it just… sank. It was so sad. As if that wasn’t bad enough, my friend came into the room, glanced at it, and said, “is it supposed to look like that?” She just had to rub salt in the wound.

Meaning
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to rub salt in the wound means:

Quote 
to make a difficult situation even worse for someone
End quote
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rub%20salt%20in%2Finto%20the%20wound 

This is easy to understand… if you pour a little salt on an open sore… well it hurts a lot! I don’t recommend trying it at home. 

But where did it come from? Did people ever use salt as a remedy? 

Short answer … of course! 
Humans have tried everything. And I do mean everything, as a solution to their problems. 

Salt is one of those substances that’s had so much attention throughout history. From the salt of the earth to just being salty about life. It’s the basic ingredient. Like, the actual one - if we were going to name a single basic ingredient, that is. 

Antiquity: 
Salt was widely used as a disinfectant in ancient medicine. The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all recognized that salt could help dry out wounds, inhibit infection, and preserve flesh. Hippocrates (c. 400 BCE) recommended salt water for cleaning ulcers and wounds.

Medieval and early modern medicine: 
Salt (sometimes mixed with vinegar) was applied to wounds or sores. The sting was well known, but so was its drying and/or antiseptic effect.

Folk medicine: 
Saltwater rinses for cuts, sore throats, and mouth ulcers continue to be used into modern times - it’s still used today as a simple antiseptic rinse.

So, does it work? 
Well, short answer… sort of! Salt causes liquid to be forced out of cells when it comes into contact with tissues… if there is bacteria in those tissues, then it will get pushed out as well. This is why it also has a drying effect. That doesn’t mean it’s the best option or that it has healing properties necessarily… but it could potentially help clean a wound. Your better option is soapy water or a specifically-created saline solution - you know, something sterile. 

There have also been some darker uses for salt related to wounds and this is a possible origin for the use of our phrase. It’s described in our first attestation. 

1684
This is one of the earliest examples of the phrase in text. It comes from the 1684 work Religion and Loyalty by Samuel PARKER. Here is an excerpt,

Quote 
Continually breaking Jests, not only up on their Religion but their Miseries: which is not only to wound a Man, but to rub Salt and pour Vinegar upon his Sores, a piece of Barbarity that was peculiar to Julian alone.
End quote
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Religion_and_Loyalty_or_a_demonstration/L9WYRxJxujkC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=rub+salt+in+the+wound&pg=PA577&printsec=frontcover 

Now, this speaks to the cruelty of the act… but it is also using the idea of rubbing salt into a wound as a means of describing other behaviors. It’s almost using that as a starting point to measure other things against. 

The phrase was in use at this time but it was rather sporadic and it was really more the concept that was mentioned with some frequency. It wasn’t until the 1800s that the phrase really started to be used consistently. 

1804
The phrase was used in the Virginia Argus out of Richmond, Virginia, June 30, 1804. It shares information that I found in many papers around the time.

Quote
In the year 1791, I was told that to apply common salt to a wound of that kind would certainly prevent the person from running mad: I immediately made it known to my acquaintances: shortly after there came a mad dog, and bit several of my neighbors. Salt was applied, and not one of them received the smallest injury. 
End quote
https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84024710/1804-06-30/ed-1/?sp=3&q=salt+wound&r=0.22,0.453,0.325,0.215,0 

There you have it… cure for rabies. 


1884
Let’s take a look at The Indianapolis journal out of Indiana, US September 13, 1884. 

Quote 
We have no desire to rub salt in the wound but would repeat that just four years ago this week the northeasternmost State in the Union went Democratic. This week it didn't.
End quote
https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82015679/1884-09-13/ed-1/?sp=4&q=rub+salt+in+the+wound+&r=0.409,0.645,0.354,0.177,0 

I love that comment because it is so quiet in its bite. We’re not going to rub it in… just pointing out this simple fact. 

1901
Let’s take a look at the New-York tribune out of New York, N.Y., March 6, 1901. 

Quote 
The debate has served to disclose how much sensitiveness and irritation there has been in military circles over the criticism respecting the conduct of the war in the earliest stages. 
Practical men grimly remark that the only effective method of reforming the British army will be the appointment of the Duke of Connaught first as adjutant-general and second as commander-in-chief; otherwise there will be constant recriminations between civilians, who think that the commander-in-chief has too much authority, and his partisans, who complain that he has too little power. Lord Spencer made a most sensible speech yesterday, while he rubbed salt on the wounds of both antagonists.
End quote
https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030214/1901-03-06/ed-1/?sp=1&q=rub+salt+in+the+wound+&r=-0.159,0.388,0.617,0.308,0 

1922
Now, we’re going to look at a story in the Ajo copper news from Ajo in Pima County, Arizona, dated January 21, 1922. The story is titled "VAMPS" WHO MADE HISTORY - THE VAMPIRE WHO TRAINED A TYRANT by JAMES C. YOUNG.

Quote 
The love affair with Acte estranged Nero and his wife, Octavia, whom he had married as a matter of statecraft.
Then he fell under the sway of Poppaea Sabina and quickly abandoned Acte. Poppaea also was married. but as mistress to Nero she chided him for subjection to his mother. Nero lost his head and set about doing whatever Poppaea bid. She was older than he, but beautiful and seductive-a vampire in very truth. And she meant to make herself empress. Agrippina stood in the way, and Poppaea lost no chance to rub salt upon the wounds in Nero's pride.
End quote
https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn95060771/1922-01-21/ed-1/?sp=2&q=rub+salt+in+the+wound+&r=0.302,-0.014,0.719,0.359,0 

Now, I make no judgments about Poppaea but Nero did kill his own mother…  

1941
Now we have a story about hockey from the Evening star out of Washington, D.C., January 26, 1941. 

Quote 
The irrepressible Watson, with the Toronto pack baying at his heels for revenge, set up the winning goal in that game with a pass he made to Ott Heller. That rubbed salt in Toronto wounds.
End quote
https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1941-01-26/ed-1/?sp=84&q=rub+salt+in+the+wound+&r=0.345,0.583,0.944,0.472,0 

1955
And here’s one last item before we move to our modern uses. This is in the Evening star out of Washington, D.C., December 11, 1955. The article is titled, How Stubborn Are You? And it’s by Lester and Irene David.

Quote 
We interviewed a total of 15 male and female marriage counselors, psychologists, anthropologists, and social workers. 
Some of the experts were professionally polite with one another but others frankly bristled. For example:
Dr. Ashley Montagu, the noted anthropologist who cut men to the quick in his recent book, "The Natural Superiority Of Women," rubbed salt into the wound. "I've been around some fifty years," he told us, "and everything I've observed convinces me the male is much less secure, more stubborn."
End quote
https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1955-12-11/ed-1/?sp=161&q=rub+salt+in+the+wound+ 

The article even includes a quiz so you can find out if you’re the stubborn one. We’ll review some of the questions from this quiz and you can find out if you have little if any stubbornness in your nature or if you should consider yourself mulish in your obstinacy. Join us for the behind the scenes every Friday on Patreon at patreon.com/BunnyTrailsPod. 

We have several modern uses to cover and we’ll get to those, right after we say thank you to our sponsors. 

A Quick Thank You
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Modern Uses

2014
The song Salt in the Wound by Theory of a Deadman was released in 2014. Here are some of the lyrics

Quote 
Being dead must be better than this
It already hurts but you couldn't resist
Moving on way too quick
An unexpected way to end it

Like a bullet that didn't go through
It's stuck inside just like you
Makin' me ache like you always do
Now you're fucking him like we were nothing

You could have let it be
You could have let me bleed
Instead it seems
You keep
Rubbing salt in the wound
End quote
https://youtu.be/TSxOP-WQrZU?si=XV-JWCMbB2oPFagk 

In this song, the phrase is used in its figurative sense, describing emotional pain made worse by someone’s actions, as if the initial hurt wasn’t enough. It’s perfect to capture the lingering pain of heartbreak and betrayal.

2017
“Salt in the Wound”: Safety Net Clinician Perspectives on Performance Feedback Derived From EHR Data is a 2017 journal article that was originally published in the Journal of Ambulatory Care Management. Here is the abstract, 

Quote 
Electronic health record (EHR) data can be extracted for calculating performance feedback, but users' perceptions of such feedback impact its effectiveness. Through qualitative analyses, we identified perspectives on barriers and facilitators to the perceived legitimacy of EHR-based performance feedback, in 11 community health centers (CHCs). Providers said such measures rarely accounted for CHC patients' complex lives or for providers' decisions as informed by this complexity, which diminished the measures' perceived validity. Suggestions for improving the perceived validity of performance feedback in CHCs are presented. Our findings add to the literature on EHR-based performance feedback by exploring provider perceptions in CHCs.
End quote
https://www.nursingcenter.com/journalarticle?Article_ID=3903719&Journal_ID=54005&Issue_ID=3903628 

In this case, the phrase is borrowed for the title, suggesting that poorly framed performance feedback can feel less like support and more like rubbing salt in the wound.

2018
Salt in the Wound is a 2018 alt song by boygenius. Here are some of the lyrics,

Quote 
You put salt in the wound
And a kiss on my cheek
You butter me up
And you sit down to eat
You add insult to injury
You say you believe in me
But you haven't decided
About taking or leaving me
But you take and you take
Like silks up my sleeve
Tied corner to corner
Never ending
Trick after trick, I make the magic
And you unrelentingly ask for the secret
Neck full of mockingbirds
All calling your name
I tried to sing it all back
Like I heard it, it don't sound the same
I'm gnashing my teeth
Like a child of Cain
If this is a prison, I'm willing to buy my own chain
End quote
https://youtu.be/p_kgIJ5ffJI?si=yvYOsiVQ0iNWgCSc 

This song has an eerie repetition to it that kind of makes you feel the relentless pain being described. It’s interesting.

2020
Beyond Words - Words, Wit and Wisdom for Today's Style and Decision Makers is a blog that featured the 2020 article, Salt On the Wound. Here’s an excerpt,

Quote 
I poured salt on a wound yesterday. Literally. I have a small wound on the tip of one of my fingers and didn’t even consider it as I started to fill a salt shaker. OUCHIE! It burned and stung so bad that the idiom immediately came to mind. But why is it not only a play on words but true? Why does salt hurt a wound? It got me thinking and I’m here to tell you.
End quote
https://carlawordsmithblog.com/2020/10/07/salt-on-the-wound/ 

Same advice here… don’t pour salt on the wounds. The article also features a list of different types of salt. 

2023
Salt in the Wound is a 2023 book by Sierra Simone, described as a dark enemies to lovers romance. Here’s the synopsis, 

Quote 
The first time I meet the devil, he knows my name.

The second time I meet him, the truth becomes clear: Mark Trevena is to be my husband.

No matter that we don't know each other. No matter that he's older than me; shameless and sinful; the owner of a secret club where the powerful come to play. My father has spoken, and I'll be the devil's bride the minute I graduate from college.

Except my future husband has one condition for this arranged marriage: we have to pretend it’s real.

He’ll teach me, he says. How to pretend to be his in pain and pleasure both. How to pretend to arch and writhe under his touch. But his lessons are teaching me something else entirely…

…that Mark Trevena wants me in a way that's not pretend at all.
End quote
https://a.co/d/j2RSgL5 

I think I mention this each time but romance novels are typically not my thing. So, I’ll just leave it at that. 

2024 
Salt in the Wound is a 2024 painting by Ayesha Pearce. It honestly just looks like a background of skin with an open wound on the lower portion of the painting and salt being poured into it. Though it’s somewhat abstract, it’s also pretty obvious if you know the title. The artist shares,

Quote 
One for everyone having a bad day. Me too. Salt In The Wound is painted in oil on a cradled wood panel.
End quote
https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Salt-In-The-Wound/2285071/12019541/view?srsltid=AfmBOor1D8TBxMstTrDgzwpeeFK-K0UBar6qbBirwJp4vXHsfnV0w5Sd 



2025
Okay, finally, we have The Curious Clinicians - A Medical Podcast that asks "Why"? In Episode 110 – Salt in the Wound, they seek to uncover the secrets of salt. Here is a little bit, 

Quote 
Take Home Points
Pouring salt in wounds does indeed cause pain, by multiple mechanisms:
Raising wound osmolarity, which stimulates osmo-sensitive TRPV nociceptive neurons. 

In a fascinating twist, these are the same neurons through which capsaicin from chili peppers signals, and the venom of a certain type of tarantula from Trinidad. 

Another mechanism is osmotic stress leading to cellular injury and death. 
End quote
https://curiousclinicians.com/2025/06/12/episode-110-salt-in-the-wound/ 

And I suppose, if you’re hoping for something truly terrifying… join us for that behind the scenes where - yes, yes we will - discuss the capsaicin-venomed tarantula of Trinidad. 

Wrap up: 
What I like about this phrase is how instantly it lands. Everyone knows what it feels like when something already painful is made worse, whether it’s heartbreak, disappointment, or even just a small embarrassment that someone points out again. Salt in the wound captures that sting perfectly. But I also think there’s something human about it - we notice those extra hurts more than the original injury sometimes. And maybe that’s why the phrase sticks with us. It reminds me that words and actions can deepen someone’s pain without us even realizing it. So if I can choose, I’d rather not be the one rubbing salt in the wound.

Shauna:
That’s about all we have for today. If you have any thoughts on the show, or pop culture references we should have included, reach out to us on Patreon, patreon.com/bunnytrailspod, or comment on our website, bunnytrailspod.com

Dan:

It’s poll time!

Recently we asked our Patrons, Which is your driving feature, logic or emotion?

This one was a 50-50 split on logic versus emotion. 

Jan said: 
Quote
Emotion first, but then I use logic to try to validate and support my gut feelings. 
End Quote

Shauna: 
I’m right there with you, Jan… I’m an instincts-first type and then I’ll think it through. 

But don’t give me too much time or I’ll overthink it until I’ve almost certainly chosen the worst possible option and I also won’t be able to explain why. Sort of like not choosing the poison in front of you or me… like that scene from The Princess Bride. 

I love this next answer from Cheryl:
Quote 
I'd like to think it's logic but I don't think it is.
End quote

Dan: 
I am mostly logic, though I have learned to trust my "gut feelings" when I have them. But still, mostly I try to follow the logical, rational route. If I let strong emotions guide me, they often lead me down a rather illogical path. Which makes me sound more like Spock than I really am. Or maybe exactly the amount of Spock I am. Who knows?

But to wrap us up, I’ll share JGP’s unique wisdom:

Quote
Neither, I think I lean more towards crazed rodent on a hamster wheel.
End Quote

As a reminder, our silly polls mean absolutely nothing and are not scientifically valid. And patrons of all levels, including our free tiers, can take part. Head over to patreon.com/bunnytrailspod to take this week’s poll!

Outro 

Dan:
Thanks for joining us. We’ll talk to you again next week. Until then remember, 

Together:
Words belong to their users.