<P> Eating crow is a colloquial idiom , used in English - speaking countries that means humiliation by admitting having been proven wrong after taking a strong position . Crow is presumably foul - tasting in the same way that being proven wrong might be emotionally hard to swallow . The exact origin of the idiom is unknown , but it probably began with an American story published around 1850 about a dim - witted New York farmer . Eating crow is of a family of idioms having to do with eating and being proven incorrect , such as to `` eat dirt '' and to `` eat your hat '' ( or shoe ) , all probably originating from `` to eat one 's words '' , which first appears in print in 1571 in one of John Calvin 's tracts , on Psalm 62 : `` God eateth not his words when he hath once spoken '' . </P>
<P> Eating crow is a colloquial idiom , used in English - speaking countries that means humiliation by admitting having been proven wrong after taking a strong position . Crow is presumably foul - tasting in the same way that being proven wrong might be emotionally hard to swallow . The exact origin of the idiom is unknown , but it probably began with an American story published around 1850 about a dim - witted New York farmer . Eating crow is of a family of idioms having to do with eating and being proven incorrect , such as to `` eat dirt '' and to `` eat your hat '' ( or shoe ) , all probably originating from `` to eat one 's words '' , which first appears in print in 1571 in one of John Calvin 's tracts , on Psalm 62 : `` God eateth not his words when he hath once spoken '' . </P>
where did the phrase eating crow come from
where did the phrase eating crow come from
unknown probably began with an American story published around 1850 about a dim - witted New York farmer
unknown probably began with an American story published around 1850 about a dim - witted New York farmer