许多人把eat one’s words理解为“食言”真的是错的离谱

Eat one's words=收回前言

Eat one's words=Retract what one has said.也就是收回之前说的话，一般是承认自己说错了。(与食言，不守信用的意思还是相差十万八千里吧)

Jay：I think Dr. Smith will have to eat his words sooner or later.

我觉得史密斯医生迟早要收回他说的话。

Aileen：But I feel confident of his ability to cure my son's disease.

Aileen:但我确信他能治好我儿子的病。

Jay：How can you be so sure?

Jay:你怎么这么肯定?

Aileen：Many people told me that he never talks big. I also can see from the way he spoke to us.

很多人告诉我他从来不说大话，从他跟我们说话的方式上我也能看出来。

—举一反三—

· To eat one's hat

当一个人说to eat his hat，那就是他十分肯定他说的话是对的，要是他错了，他宁可把自己的帽子给吃了。中文的意思就是：要是他错了，他就不姓张，或不姓李等。

One thing I do know something about--playing the stock market. And I'll eat my hat if it doesn't go up another three hundred points by the end of the year.

有一样东西我还懂得一点，那就是玩股票市场。要是到今年年底股票价格不上升三百个百分点的话，我就不姓李。

· To eat one's heart out

To eat one's heart out难道是吃人心吗？当然不是，真正意思是：非常沉痛和绝望的悲痛。

Ever since grandmother died, grandfather has been eating his heart out--he's lost all interest in life and won't even get out of bed to eat.

自从祖母去世后，祖父非常伤心，他对生活失去了一切兴趣，都不愿意起床吃饭。

· From the word go

From the word go的意思是：一开始或者是马上、立即。

The first time we met I knew this was the only one I wanted to marry. Yes, sir, it was love from the word go.

我们第一次见面的时候，我就知道我要结婚就唯独是她。是的，先生，我们从一开始就互相爱上了。

那么，食言=break one's promise=go back on one's word/promise

Going back on your promise makes you a liar.不履行你的诺言，那你就是骗子。