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Please Pass the Cold Turkey.
Well the weather outside is frightful. It’s winter time. It’s cold. And, that also means it’s time for an endless stream of holiday parties and family gatherings. At this time of the year well-intentioned people can be both trying and exhausting. But, that doesn’t mean it’s time to not include anyone or ignore them once you are with them. Simply stated, you shouldn’t “give the cold shoulder.” Or, should you? A few hundred years ago maybe you should have. The origin of the phrase gives dual meanings.
Meaning: A rude way of telling someone he isn’t welcome or to ignore someone
History: Although giving someone the cold shoulder is considered rude today, it was actually regarded as a polite gesture in medieval England. After a feast, the host would let his guests know it was time to leave by giving them a cold piece of meat from the shoulder of beef, mutton, or pork.
Holy cow, who knew? Cold beef, mutton, or pork doesn’t sound so bad after all. Of course if you were shown the door for all of the wrong reasons perhaps it was indeed past time to leave. Did you drink more cold beers than any one human should? If so a few aspirin in the morning will get you to the next soiree. But, after too many holiday parties it may be time to, well, dry out some? If you want to go to the extreme perhaps you “quit cold turkey.” Cold turkey means that you have dead stopped doing something that you used to do with great regularity. Why is a sudden behavioral change described that way?
History: People believed that during withdrawal, the skin of drug addicts became translucent, hard to the touch, and covered with goose bumps – like the skin of a plucked turkey.