| 翻訳と辞書 |
eating crow
Eating crow is an American colloquial idiom,〔 meaning humiliation by admitting wrongness or having been proven wrong after taking a strong position.〔(Eating Crow, and other indigestibles ) by Michael Quinion at ''World Wide Words'', last accessed September 2014〕 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 slow-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”.〔
==Origin theories==
Literally eating a crow is traditionally seen as being distasteful; the crow is one of the birds listed in Leviticus chapter 11〔("Leviticus 11:13" ) in Holy Bible, Leviticus 11:13 (New International Version)〕 as being unfit for eating. Scavenging carrion eaters have a long association with the battlefield, "They left the corpses behind for the raven, never was there greater slaughter in this island," says the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''. Along with buzzards, rats, and other carrion-eating scavenging animals, there is a tradition in Western culture going back to at least the Middle Ages of seeing them as distasteful (even illegal at times) to eat,〔Joyce Salisbury. ''The Beast Within: Animals in the Middle Ages'', Routledge, 2011.〕 and thus naturally humiliating if forced to consume against one's will.〔
In the modern figurative sense of being proven wrong, ''eating crow'' probably first appeared in print in 1850, as an American humor piece about a rube farmer near Lake Mahopack, New York.〔Popik, Barry A., (Studies in Slang, VII ), Gerald Leonard Cohen 2006, (pp. 119-122 ). Re-printed from ''Comments on Etymology'', October 2003, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 7-9〕 The OED V2 says the story was first published as "Eating Crow" in San Francisco's ''Daily Evening Picayune'' (Dec. 3, 1851),〔''Oxford English Dictionary'' 2, "crow", n. #1, 3a.〕 but two other early versions exist, one in ''The Knickerbocker'' (date unknown),〔 and one in the ''Saturday Evening Post'' (Nov. 2, 1850) called "Can You Eat Crow?".〔 All tell a similar story: a slow-witted New York farmer is outfoxed by his (presumed urban)〔 boarders; after they complain about the poor food being served, the farmer discounts the complaint by claiming he "kin eat anything", and the boarders wonder if he can eat a crow. "I kin eat a crow!" the farmer says. The boarders take him up on the challenge but also secretly spike the crow with Scotch snuff. The story ends with the farmer saying: "I kin eat a crow, but I be darned if I hanker after it."〔 Although the humor might produce a weak smile today, it was probably a knee slapper by 19th-century standards, guaranteeing the story would be often retold in print and word of mouth, thus explaining, in part, the idiom's origin.〔 In 1854 Samuel Putnam Avery published a version called "Crow Eating" in his collection ''Mrs. Parkington's Carpet-Bag of Fun''.〔Samuel Putnam Avery. (''Mrs. Partington's Carpet-Bag of Fun'' ), "Crow eating", 1854, (pg. 145 ).〕
A similar British idiom is ''to eat humble pie''.〔 The English phrase is something of a pun—"umbles" were the intestines, offal and other less valued meats of a deer. Pies made of this were known to be served to those of lesser class who did not eat at the king's/lord's/governor's table. Another dish likely to be served with humble pie is rook pie (rooks being closely related to crows). "Pie" is also an antiquated term for the European magpie,〔("Magpie" ) in ''The New Century Book of Facts'', 1911, pg.715〕 a type of crow. There is a similarity with the American version of "umble", since the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defines crow (sb3) as meaning "intestine or mesentery of an animal" and cites usages from the 17th century into the 19th century (e.g., Farley, ''Lond Art of Cookery'': "the harslet, which consists of the liver, crow, kidneys, and skirts)."〔''Oxford English Dictionary'', "crow", sb3.〕
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
■ウィキペディアで「eating crow」の詳細全文を読む
スポンサード リンク
| 翻訳と辞書 : 翻訳のためのインターネットリソース |
Copyright(C) kotoba.ne.jp 1997-2016. All Rights Reserved.
|
|