Eat one's word并不是真的把文字吃下去，不是“食言”！

以前听过一个小笑话：儿子的债主拿着欠条找上门时，父母把欠条当面包一样吃了！

在这里“Eat one's word”，不是吃文字，是指“收回前言，承认自己说错了话”！

举个例子：

What he said proved wrong, so he had to eat his words.

事实证明他说错了，所以他只好收回前言。

I never thought Clare could handle this job, but I have to eat my words now.

我一直以为Clare无法胜任这份工作，看来我错了。