Eating Crow Trivia Quiz

Answer: Being forced to admit you were wrong

"Eating crow" is primarily an American idiom. The English equivalent is to "eat
your words". Whilst the exact origin is unknown, it probably comes from crow being an unpleasant thing to eat in the same way that admitting you were wrong is an unpleasant thing to do.

Answer: Grouse

Quite why grouse came to mean complain is uncertain. It seems to have started to become a popular saying in the 1880s, and may well have had something to do with the difficulty of shooting grouse as a game bird. In Australia it has the exact opposite meaning, grouse in slang there means good or excellent.

Answer: Moving around aimlessly

This phrase has military origins. Troops used it to describe tanks that were moving across the battlefield with no apparent purpose. The long gun turret of a tank swiveling to and fro reminded them of the long neck of the swan. It has since come to mean anyone who is just wandering around from place to place with no real purpose.

Answer: Pigeon toed

Inward pointing toes and feet are so described because they are said to resemble the feet of a pigeon, as well as making the sufferer walk in a way that resembles one. The condition is most often seen in babies and young children and is often self correcting as the child grows. If it doesn't self correct, a range of treatments from special shoes to surgery are available.

Answer: They don't earn very much

To be paid "chicken feed" is to be paid a small amount of money. It comes from the fact that chickens can be fed on corn and other grains that are too small for any other purpose. Although it can be used to refer to a small amount of anything, the usual context is monetary. A similar phrase is "paid peanuts" or "pay peanuts, get monkeys".

Answer: flock together

"Birds of a feather flock together" means that people with similar outlooks, interests or personalities tend to gravitate towards each other. Clubs such as golf clubs, bridge clubs, and sewing clubs are good examples of this. It is a case of humans imitating nature, where birds of the same species form large flocks for safety in numbers.

This saying has been around for a very long time. It first appeared in print in 1599 in a dictionary compiled by John Minsheu.

Answer: Eagle eyed

If someone says you are "eagle eyed" then you don't miss a thing that is going on. This saying comes from the eyesight of an eagle. The bird can spot prey from far up in the air. Studies have suggested it can see a rabbit on the ground from around two miles away.

Answer: Peacock

To be as proud or as vain as a peacock comes from the way this male bird struts around showing off his beautiful tail and colourful plumage. In contrast the female bird, the peahen, has quite drab, brown plumage. She, however, will select which male to breed with, so he needs to put on a good display. The term peacock is often applied to men driving fast, expensive cars and wearing ostentatiously expensive clothes and jewelry in the hopes of attracting females.

Answer: Don't be too greedy

This old saying means it is often better to settle for what you have than to chase after something you might not get. If a bird settles on your hand then be grateful for that, don't shoo it away and chase after the two birds that are perched in the bush, you may never catch them. If someone offers you £5,000 for your car and it is a fair price, don't turn it down in the hope you will get £5,500, that higher offer might never come along.

Answer: A police informer

Originally the term was used for a decoy, and came from the hunting practice of using a dead pigeon attached to something to lure live pigeons closer to the gun.

It then came to mean any form of decoy, but during the 1950s became popular in American crime literature to mean anyone who informed on his criminal colleagues to the police. In this context it possibly came from undercover police officers who spent a lot of time sitting on bar stools picking up gossip and rumours.