Grammar Moses: Let's eat some crow

When in doubt about the origin of an idiom, there are places to go, notably etymonline.com and idiom origins.org.

I sometimes get lost in these websites because I learn so much every time I dip my toe in.

I decided to look up the birth of "eat crow" for reasons I'll explain in a bit.

Idiomorigins.com calls it the American version of "eating humble pie." It's the act of admitting one's mistake.

How does a mea culpa translate to eating crow? Crows, as you know, eat rotting flesh. Hence, it is believed crows themselves taste terrible. I wouldn't know; I've eaten it only in an idiomatic sense. But something like that would be a humiliating experience.

The Oxford English Dictionary cites a much older reference to "crow" being as the offal of an animal. In most cases, I would find eating innards to be equally disgusting.

I am well practiced in eating crow in a figurative sense - so much so that I've considered writing a cookbook.

The latest example stems from a texting conversation I had with Managing Editor Lisa Miner.

Me: "In the Long Grove story, it's WHET the whistle."

Lisa: "I looked it up. Let me check again. I looked it up again. It should be WET."

Me: "Nope. A whetstone sharpens a blade. To whet is to sharpen one's appetite by providing a taste. It's been around for 600 years."

Lisa: "It's WET your whistle and WHET your appetite."

Me: "Ugh. You're right."

Lisa: "Can I get that on a T-shirt?"

At this point I started drawing up a menu of roasted crow with a side of sufferin' succotash.

Don't you just hate a know-it-all?

In my defense, "wet" and "whet" in their respective idioms have similar meanings, though I suppose "whetting" is more about teasing your taste buds, while "wetting" is more about sating them.

Still, you can see why I got it wrong.

Turns out one's whistle, dating back to the Middle Ages, is one's mouth or throat, which makes "wet" the obvious choice.

My advice: Never trust an idiom. Now you have two good sources with which to check them out.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/executive editor of the Daily Herald. You can buy Jim's book, "Grammar Moses: A humorous guide to grammar and usage," at

grammarmosesthebook.com. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com

and put "Grammar Moses" in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.