<P> Rudyard Kipling (1865--1936) used this concept as a central metaphor in his short story "The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes" (1885). Morrowbie Jukes, a European colonist in India, falls into a sand - pit from which he cannot escape . Another man, a native Indian, is also trapped there who catches wild crows and eats them, but Morrowbie in his pride declares, "I shall never eat crow!" After days of nothing to eat, his hunger and desperation finally force him to do what he swore he would never do: literally eat crow . </P> <P> After incumbent Harry Truman defeated Thomas Dewey in the 1948 United States presidential election despite many media predictions of a Dewey victory, the Washington Post sent a telegram to the victor: </P> <P> You Are Hereby Invited To A "Crow Banquet" To Which This Newspaper Proposes To Invite Newspaper Editorial Writers, Political Reporters And Editors, Including Our Own, Along With Pollsters, Radio Commentators And Columnists...Main Course Will Consist Of Breast Of Tough Old Crow En Glace . (You Will Eat Turkey .) </P> <P> On November 7, 2000, the election night of the 2000 Presidential Election, after the polls had closed, CNN predicted Al Gore would win Florida and the presidency . Later, CNN retracted the call and put Florida back in the too - close - to - call column before finally awarding Florida to George Bush . One of the anchors, Greenfield, likened CNN's error to eating crow . </P>

Where does the phrase eat crow come from