kernel of truth

Language: en

Meaning: (idiomatic)Acoreaccuracyat the heart of aclaimornarrativewhich also containsdubiousorfictitiouselements.There may be akernel of truthin the story of how George Washington confessed to his father that he chopped down the cherry tree.1863October 24, “Latin and Cricket”, inThe Albion, A Journal of News, Politics and Literature, volume41, number48, New York, page513:Whether the Duke of Wellington really said of the Eton playing-fields that it was there that the battle Waterloo was won, may fairly be doubted. The story has many elements of the myth about it; but, like other myths, it has akernel of truth.1955, F. Schmidl, "The problem of scientific validation in psycho-analytic interpretation,"International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, vol 36 no 2 (Mar/Apr), pp. 105-113.This statement will be unacceptable to many biographers and historians, but there seems to be a definitekernel of truthin it.2003September 7, “The New Season/Film: Big Fish”, inThe New York Times, page AR74:It's about a young man (Billy Crudup) who tries to distill the true biography of his dying father (Albert Finney) by looking for thekernels of truthin the many tall tales he has told.

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