Eat Crow While It Is Young and Tender

 

The idiom “eat crow while it’s young and tender” may sound unusual, but it has an interesting meaning. I first learned it from my friend Bob Roberts in Springfield (he grew up in West Plains, Mo.)

To “eat crow” in general means to admit that you were wrong, especially when you have made a mistake or have been proven wrong after you were very confident about something. 

The phrase comes from a time when people thought that crow meat, a type of bird, was tough and unpleasant to eat. So, eating crow symbolizes swallowing your pride and accepting an uncomfortable truth.

Now, adding the part “while it’s young and tender” changes the meaning a bit. 

This part of the idiom suggests that if you have to admit you were wrong, it’s better to do it sooner rather than later. 

Just like crow meat, when it’s young and tender, is easier to eat, admitting your mistake early makes it less painful. The longer you wait to admit your error, the harder it can become, just like older crow meat would be much harder to chew.

The idiom teaches an important lesson about handling mistakes. 

Sometimes, when we make a mistake, our first instinct is to avoid admitting it because we feel embarrassed or ashamed. However, this idiom suggests that the quicker we own up to our errors, the better it is for everyone involved. 

It’s much easier to fix a problem or learn from a mistake when we are honest about it early on. By acknowledging it, we can move forward and avoid letting the mistake grow into something bigger and harder to handle.

For example, imagine a student who makes a mistake on a test. If they realize their error right away and ask for help, it’s easier to correct it. But if they wait until the end of the semester to admit they’ve been struggling, the problem could become much harder to fix. 

Or take me as an example in our neighborhood. We lived there for years and when new people moved in across the street we did not introduce ourselves. We didn't know their names for years! Finally, we went over and introduced ourselves with cookies. The "crow" was not "young and tender" but we became convinced that eating it was the best thing to do. In fact, it turned into a blessing. They are great neighbors now.

In this case, “eating crow while it’s young and tender” means accepting your mistake early to prevent more trouble later on.

In conclusion, the idiom “eat crow while it’s young and tender” teaches us that it’s always best to admit our mistakes quickly and with humility. Doing so makes it easier to handle the consequences and move forward without the weight of the mistake dragging us down.

Written by David L. Burton

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