英语词汇eat crow的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

eat crow. During an armistice toward the end of the War of 1812, an American soldier out hunting crossed the Niagara River past British lines. Finding no better game, he shot a crow, but a British officer heard the shot and surprised him. The Britisher tricked the Yankee out of the rifle with which he shot so well. He then turned the gun on the American, de- manding that he take a bite out of the crow he had shot as a punishment for violating British territory. The American complied, but when the officer returned his weapon and told him to leave, he covered the Englishman and forced him to eat the rest of the crow. That is the origin of the expression to eat crow, “to be forced to do something extremely disagreea- ble,” as related in an 1888 issue of the Atlanta Constitution. Although to eat crow is possibly a much older expression, the saying first appeared in print in 1877 and the story may well be true—nothing better has been suggested. The concept be- hind to eat crow is that crows are not good eating, but the flesh of young ones was once esteemed and I have it on the authority of the Remington Arms Co. that even old crows aren’t so bad if you simply “skin the bird, salt and cut it into pieces, parboil till tender and then fry with butter and on- ions.” I’ll eat crow if someone conclusively proves that the rec- ipe isn’t authentic.

词汇	eat crow
词源	eat crow. During an armistice toward the end of the War of 1812, an American soldier out hunting crossed the Niagara River past British lines. Finding no better game, he shot a crow, but a British officer heard the shot and surprised him. The Britisher tricked the Yankee out of the rifle with which he shot so well. He then turned the gun on the American, de- manding that he take a bite out of the crow he had shot as a punishment for violating British territory. The American complied, but when the officer returned his weapon and told him to leave, he covered the Englishman and forced him to eat the rest of the crow. That is the origin of the expression to eat crow, “to be forced to do something extremely disagreea- ble,” as related in an 1888 issue of the Atlanta Constitution. Although to eat crow is possibly a much older expression, the saying first appeared in print in 1877 and the story may well be true—nothing better has been suggested. The concept be- hind to eat crow is that crows are not good eating, but the flesh of young ones was once esteemed and I have it on the authority of the Remington Arms Co. that even old crows aren’t so bad if you simply “skin the bird, salt and cut it into pieces, parboil till tender and then fry with butter and on- ions.” I’ll eat crow if someone conclusively proves that the rec- ipe isn’t authentic.
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