Englishsomething to crow about
Meaning: An exceptional accomplishment; an achievement that is worth bragging about.
Example: “Finishing her first marathon is really something to crow about.”
Origin: A rooster's crow is not communication in any useful sense but announcement: loud, unprompted, addressed to nobody in particular, and delivered from the highest available position to assert that the bird exists and holds this ground. That is an exact model for boasting, and English recognized it early — "crow" meaning to exult or brag is attested from the 1500s, well before the modern phrase. The idiom is most often heard in the negative, as nothing to crow about, which is doing something subtler than plain dismissal: it does not say the achievement is worthless, only that it falls short of the threshold at which announcing it would be justified, leaving the thing standing while denying it the right to be broadcast.
More English idioms
- apple of one's eye A person or thing that is precious or loved above all else.
- big cheese An important, powerful or influential person.
- bite the dust To be destroyed or ruined beyond repair; slang for "to die".
- bitter pill to swallow A difficult or unpleasant reality to deal with.
- chew someone out To scold someone harshly.
- chew something over To think slowly and carefully about something.
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