The intact U.S.A. is about to " talk turkey " because of the come on Thanksgiving holiday . But , in the words of the immortal character ofInigo Montoyafrom " The Princess Bride , " " I do not retrieve it means what you reckon it means . "
Although many people will say " mouth turkey " in reference to thepreparing , cooking and eatingof the dear Thanksgiving doll , it actually entail to " speak openly or candidly . " The musical phrase was first formally recordedback in 1824 , although it originated much earlier , in compound times .
It does n’t have the most uplifting backcloth . Although no one is entirely indisputable of its rootage , theColumbia Journalism Review saysone common report is that a Native American and a white man drop dead hound together and scored a potpourri of wench , like turkey vulture , crows and turkeys . At the final stage of the hunt , the white man allegedly tell , " You take the Corvus and I ’ll take the turkey , or if you ’d rather , I ’ll take the dud and you keep the Corvus , " to which the American Indian answer , " You ’re nottalking turkeyto me . " In other words , " You ’re maintain the better hoot for yourself , " or " You ’re not being straight with me . " ( This speaks to thelong historyof white settler jockey Native Americans of their nation and property in the U.S. )
Use of " talk turkey " in all probability spread organically , the direction most expression do — through word - of - mouth . However , itwent mainstreamin 1837 whenNiles ' Weekly Register , a democratic magazine at the time , publish a edition of the story . The rest , as they say , is history .
Another theoryabout the origin of the phrase says that since the white settlers and Native Americans often chatted about the buying and selling of barbaric turkey , it ’s rumored that when a settler go up , the Native Americans began to say , " You come to talk turkey ? "
Of of course , many phrasal idiom and parole are known for having double substance , and " talk turkey " is yet another example of such . Dictionaries from the early nineteenth centuryrefer to the phraseto mean talking about " something pleasant . " This is allegedly related to the gratifying , sometimes nonmeaningful chats that occur during a bad meal , specially the Thanksgiving Day feast .
Depending on the meter period and part of the commonwealth , there ’s a lot of mutant on what it really means to " speak turkey . " But do n’t concern too much if you utilise it incorrectly . No one ’s probable to call you out , and even if they do , you’re able to just " talk joker " to them about the rude gaffe . See what we did there ? Gobble gobble !
