Eating a Crow

Eating a Crow

A worthy old farmer residing in the vicinity of Lake Mahopack was worried to death last summer by boarders. They found fault with his table, and said he had nothing fit to eat. "Darn it," said Isaac, one day, "wat a fuss you are making.I can eat anything." "Can you eat a crow?" said one of the boarders. 'Yes, I kin eat a crow." Bet you a hat," said the guest. The bet was made, the crow was caught and nicely roasted, but, before serving it up, they contrived to season it with a good dose of Scotch snuff. Isaac sat down to the crow, he took a good bite, and began to chew away. "Yes I kin eat a crow! (Another bite and an awful face,) I kin eat a crow, but I'll be darned if I hanker after it."'

Source

 * Originally printed in San Francisco's Daily Evening Picayune (Dec. 3, 1851, pg. 1, col. 6).
 * Popik, Barry A., Studies in Slang, Gerald Leonard Cohen 2006, pp. 119-122. Re-printed from Comments on Etymology, October 2003, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 7-9.