Where did the term "eat crow" come from?

[McPhreak]

I just started noticing maybe within the past couple months people saying this person is gonna eat crow or that person's gonna eat crow or I'm gonna eat crow...

What are it's origins/Where did it come from?

 

[Johnnie]

The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins:


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, demanding 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 disagreeable.? As related in an 1888 issue of the Atlantic 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 behind TO EAT CROW is that crows are not good eating, but the flesh of the young ones was once esteemed and I have it on good authority of the Remington Arms Company 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 onions.? I?ll eat crow if someone conclusively proves that the recipe isn?t authentic.

 

[Legendary]

Never heard that in my entire life.

 

[McPhreak]

Originally posted by: Johnnie
The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins:


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, demanding 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 disagreeable.? As related in an 1888 issue of the Atlantic 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 behind TO EAT CROW is that crows are not good eating, but the flesh of the young ones was once esteemed and I have it on good authority of the Remington Arms Company 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 onions.? I?ll eat crow if someone conclusively proves that the recipe isn?t authentic.

ah....thanks!

 

[prodigy]

Originally posted by: Legendary
Never heard that in my entire life.

 

[CraigRT]

hm, I have never heard of this before now...

 

[McPhreak]

strange...the first time I heard this phrase was on ATOT I think a couple months ago.

 

[Cyberian]

Originally posted by: Johnnie
The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins:


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, demanding 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 disagreeable.? As related in an 1888 issue of the Atlantic 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 behind TO EAT CROW is that crows are not good eating, but the flesh of the young ones was once esteemed and I have it on good authority of the Remington Arms Company 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 onions.? I?ll eat crow if someone conclusively proves that the recipe isn?t authentic.

The two of them sound like Dumb & Dumber!!

 

[AUMM]

Originally posted by: Legendary
Never heard that in my entire life.

 

[silent tone]

The first time I noticed the phrase was on ST:VOY. I've heard it several times since.

See, it's not a waste of time.

 

[Noriaki]

Originally posted by: Legendary
Never heard that in my entire life.

 

[XMan]

So what is a "feast for crows"?

 

[ATLien247]

Originally posted by: X-Man
So what is a "feast for crows"?

A book that I am so patiently waiting for...

 

[apoppin]

That story is suspect and debunked here:

Eating Crow

This is such an inventive novelisation of the phrase's etymology that it seems a shame to point out that the original expression is not recorded until the 1850s, and that its original form was to eat boiled crow, whereas the story makes no mention of boiling the bird.

As to "feast for Crows" they are carnivores and eat dead things . . . kind of like saying "dead meat".