Today (the fourth Thursday in November) is Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., traditionally a time when families and friends get together for a special meal, and give thanks for what they have. It also gives cartoonists an opportunity to display their skills. This cartoon is by Clay Bennett from the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
The scene is a Thanksgiving Lunch/Dinner. The host is Mitt Romney, the defeated Republican candidate in the recent presidential election. The guests are all well-known Republican politicians or supporters (I think spotted Paul Ryan, Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove, and Sarah Palin?) . Mitt's wife, Anne, is serving the food, but instead of the traditional turkey, the dish contains a dead crow.
EXPLANATION
I must admit I didn't understand this cartoon at first, but I soon found the answer on Wikipedia:
Eating crow is a U.S. colloquial idiom meaning humiliation by admitting wrongness or having been proved wrong after taking a strong position. Eating crow is presumably foul-tasting in the same way that being proved wrong might be emotionally hard to swallow. The exact origin of the idiom is unknown, but it probably began with an American story published around 1850 about a slow-witted New York farmer. Read more >>
The British English equivalent would be to eat humble pie. The idea is that the Republicans, following the humiliation of their election defeat, now have to face up to the reasons for their failure.
LANGUAGE NOTE
We don't really have an equivalent expression to the French 'bon appétit' in English. You could say 'enjoy your meal', but that sounds like something a server in a fast food restaurant would say. Which is why some people prefer to use the French expression (at the risk of sounding pretentious).
NOTE
For more cartoons on Thanksgiving Day, visit The Cagle Post.
