What’s the Word: Leftovers can be just as delicious
I am quite pleased that my co-workers have jumped on the What’s the Word bandwagon. My boss, columnist extraordinaire James Clark, was even nice enough to take on my duties while I was wandering around the Southwest on vacation last week. And fortunately for me, while brainstorming phrases to research for his guest column the prolific Mr. Clark wound up with a few leftovers that didn’t fit into the space allowed.
Now, Mr. Clark is well-known as a writer who doesn’t mince words, while I am becoming famous around the office as someone who doesn’t like to waste words. In fact, I’m notorious for putting in lots more words than are probably needed in most situations. I’m especially noted for my rather lengthy cutlines for photos, some of which could conceivably be entered in a short novel competition, according to my aforementioned co-workers. (Well, at least the book would have pictures. People like pictures.)
In any case, I’m not adverse to taking advantage of Mr. Clark’s leftovers, which he was kind enough to provide in a note I found on my desk upon returning from my travels.
Now, I do have to make note of the fact that some of James’ choices tend toward, shall we say, active verbs and straight talk, perhaps because of his straightforward nature and fondness for subjects that elicit a strong response in his readers. I think most of his faithful readers would agree that whatever else Mr. Clark is, he is never dull.
Herewith, a sample of Mr. Clark’s leftovers. Hope you enjoy them. I know I will.
First up is, “beat around the bush,” which means to avoid getting to the point. This one, according to my research, comes from hunting. The beating refers to beating the bushes to flush out game for hunters. Obviously if one beats around the bushes, rather than directly on them, they probably aren’t going to get much game, which is, of course, the point of the action. In my opinion, this probably came about because of the poor natives employed by big game hunters to flush out lions and tigers and bears, oh my. Can’t really blame them for beating around the bush now can we?
The next one deals with, aptly enough, a food item, which fits right in with the leftover theme of this column. The phrase is, “going cold turkey,” which means withdrawal effects from abruptly ending a dependency such as drugs or alcohol. The expression seems to have been first used in this sense in the 1950s and appeared in the dictionary of American slang in 1960. The cold turkey expression is a metaphor for the cold sweat condition, and particularly the effect on the sufferer’s skin, experienced during dependency withdrawal, particularly during narcotic drug withdrawal where the skin of the patient becomes sweaty, pale and nodular — like the skin of a plucked turkey. This is caused by the over-activity of muscles in the skin layers called Erector Pili muscles, according to medical sources.
Falling right in with this gobbler talk is the term “talk turkey.” These days this term is generally interpreted to mean serious discussion of the financial aspects of a deal, but earlier it meant to talk straight and down to earth.
The poor turkey has also found its way into the language in some other not very complimentary ways. For instance, around the mid 1900s the word “turkey” came to mean an inept person or a exceedingly bad or unsuccessful show business production, probably because the bird itself was considered a particularly witless and unintelligent animal.
Oh well, poor turkey. Might as well chop off its head and have it for Thanksgiving dinner.
Charlie Johnson is news editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].