Another weekend dining out, indulging yourself, eating high off the hog (late19thC). Why not? That’s where you’ll traditionally find the choicest cuts of meat — high up on the hog’s side. You say you ate like a bird, thinking birds don’t eat very much. In truth, relative to their size, they eat considerably. The moment of truth comes when you step on the bathroom scale. Your bravado crumbles, and a sumptuous breakfast gives way to eating humble pie (early 19thC). You are absolutely mortified. The umbles were the heart, liver, and entrails of the deer, a little something left for the servants while the Lord and Lady feasted on the venison. Having to eat the umbles suggested poverty, a humble status, and your current humiliation. The only thing left to swallow is your pride. The call to a hearty breakfast, however, still beckons. “But a morsel,” you say, from the Latin mors , a “bite,” from mordere, “to bite.” You hesitate for a moment. Adding re, “back,” leads to a “biting again and again,” something “vexing” you, creating remorse (1385) — that gnawing feeling that can only leave you eating your words (1550s).