Crow (2)

까마귀는 우리나라에서는 불길한 소식을 전해주는 새로 여겨지지만, 다른 여러 나라에서는 긍정적인 이미지를 갖는다고 한다. 하지만 그 고기는 어디서나 맛이 없는 모양. 그래서 to eat crow (까마귀 고기를 먹다)는 ‘울며 겨자 먹다’란 뜻을 갖고 있는데, 그런 뜻을 갖게 된 유래를 살펴본다.

To the farmer, the crow is a hungry robber who swoops down to eat his corn shoots. Most people, however, see the crow as a big, noisy, bird. It is easy, then, to understand how the crow got its name into the language. Any person who talks loudly about himself or his deeds, is said to "crow" about himself.

This meaning of the word came from Old English or French. But there is a saying about the crow in America that is different. When a person says something in a loud and boastful way-and later must admit he is wrong-he is said to be "eating crow."
  


다락원 刊 'Voice of America'에서 발췌한 내용입니다.