Does the phrase “talk Turkey” refer to the bird or the country?
“To talk turkey” means to speak plainly about a difficult or awkward subject (“Let’s talk turkey about your credit history, shall we?”). According to World Wide Words, there are several possible explanations to the origin. Interestingly, the phrase used to refer to pleasant chitchat. This may have started from the “nature of family conversation around the Thanksgiving dinner table.” You know, everybody’s happy, full, and on their best behavior. As is often the case, the definition changed over time. However, the circumstances are open to debate. The Phrase Finder believes it had to do with the actual sounds a turkey makes. “Turkey gobbling was a distinct, natural sound on frontier farms.” So, to “talk turkey” meant to skip the pleasantries and get to what’s important, because farmers are a busy bunch. Another theory exists, though it reads like more of a joke than documented fact. Way back when, a settler and a Native American went hunting for birds, and caught an equal number of turke
