English is quite a pun language; one can have fun because of the puns. But an entire headline which first startles and then explains is this on pix11.com:
Spelling Bee winner eats his winning word for the 1st time: K-n-a-i-d-e-l, knaidel
It all about how the US Spelling Bee winner, Arvind Mahankali, who spelt knaildel correctly and bagged US30,000 and then ordered one in a restaurant since he had never eaten it ever, being a vegetarian. The restaurant had to make one for him.
He was not eating his word in the sense, he was not owning up to a mistake which is what the idiom means. He was eating the soup. The headline draws you to it, especially, if you had read Chidananda Rajghatta's dispatch about how the spelling was disputed. The venerable New York Times had written about it.
Mahankali was conceding his mistake, you'd think. Far from it; he was tasting it!
The idiom means, "if you eat your words, you accept publicly that you were wrong abut something you said", according to www.usingenglish.com and "to have to take back one's statements; to confess that one's predictions were wrong", according to idioms.thefreedictionary.com
.
He was only eating the soup. By the way, there is a dispute - or lack of clarity - on whether soup is eaten or drunk.
Interestingly, the above piece was posted on Facebook by Chidananda Rajghatta.this blog had a post on his dispatch in The Times of India on the dispute, which if read now, would help understand the whole thing better.
Spelling Bee winner eats his winning word for the 1st time: K-n-a-i-d-e-l, knaidel
It all about how the US Spelling Bee winner, Arvind Mahankali, who spelt knaildel correctly and bagged US30,000 and then ordered one in a restaurant since he had never eaten it ever, being a vegetarian. The restaurant had to make one for him.
He was not eating his word in the sense, he was not owning up to a mistake which is what the idiom means. He was eating the soup. The headline draws you to it, especially, if you had read Chidananda Rajghatta's dispatch about how the spelling was disputed. The venerable New York Times had written about it.
Mahankali was conceding his mistake, you'd think. Far from it; he was tasting it!
The idiom means, "if you eat your words, you accept publicly that you were wrong abut something you said", according to www.usingenglish.com and "to have to take back one's statements; to confess that one's predictions were wrong", according to idioms.thefreedictionary.com
.
He was only eating the soup. By the way, there is a dispute - or lack of clarity - on whether soup is eaten or drunk.
Interestingly, the above piece was posted on Facebook by Chidananda Rajghatta.this blog had a post on his dispatch in The Times of India on the dispute, which if read now, would help understand the whole thing better.
