Talking turkey what does it mean

Historical accounts suggest the phrase came about from the day-to-day bartering between colonists and Indians over wild turkeys. The white man, in the usual style of making a bargain with the Indian proposed a division of the spoils in this way: "Now Wampum, you may have your choice: you take the crow, and I'll tale the turkey; or, if you'd rather, I'll take the turkey and you take the crow.

You no talk turkey to me a bit. Want to keep up with all the latest DecodeDC stories and podcasts? Sign up for our weekly newsletter at decodedc. Actions Facebook Tweet Email.

From 's Dicitonary of Americanisms. A glossary of words and phrases, usually regarded as peculiar to the United States by John Russell Bartlett:.

The quoted text was printed in an edition of Atkinson's Casket. So this is to talk in a silly manner, to talk nonsense, and gives an example of talking turkey when being polite. This is similar to and gives more information on what Quinion says of the original meaning: "To start with it meant to speak agreeably, or to say pleasant things".

However, Bartlet appears to have changed his mind by Unfortunately this is all I could get from the snippet:. Dipper , a vessel, and consequently the name of the constellation, is of course older than the Dictionary itself, and is in both senses a downright Americanism, but is now first noticed by Mr.

In explaining the phrase to talk Turkey he abandons his former definition We've got to sit down and talk turkey—get this thing wrapped up. It's time to talk turkey and quit messing around. This expression allegedly comes from a tale about an Indian and a white man who hunted together and divided the game. When the white man said, "I'll take the turkey and you the buzzard, or you take the buzzard and I the turkey," the Indian replied, "Talk turkey to me. In that era, turkey was a substantive part of a festive meal.

Turkey was the centerpiece the way a Christmas Goose is today. This was long before the era of slogan's like "Where's the beef? But similar in meaning. To "talk turkey" was "to get to the meat of the conversation.

One of my students in from Brazil said "Well, we think people from Turkey always want to bargain, to barter. We make a hand gesture meaning "money, money.

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Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Why do we "talk turkey"? Ask Question. Asked 9 years, 7 months ago. Problems viewing this page? Cookies and privacy Other words sites Affixes dictionary. The English language is forever changing. New words appear; old ones fall out of use or alter their meanings.

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