# "Going Cold Turkey"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-cold-turkey/117989>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 9, 2002, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-cold-turkey/117989 "2002-07-09T00:13:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2002, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-cold-turkey/117989/1 "2002-07-09T00:13:53Z")

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Where does this expression get its origin? Holly Farms?

- Jinx

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**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2002, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-cold-turkey/117989/2 "2002-07-09T02:32:09Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Cold Turkey  
> This phrase meaning “without preparation” dates to 1910. The use in relation to withdrawal from an addictive substance (originally heroin) dates to around 1922. The derivation is from the idea that cold turkey is a food that requires little preparation in the kitchen. So to quit like cold turkey is to do so suddenly and without preparation.

[http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorc.htm#Cold%20Turkey](http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorc.htm#Cold%20Turkey)

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**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2002, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-cold-turkey/117989/3 "2002-07-09T03:25:02Z")

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Actually, going cold turkey initially referred to opiate addiction. Cold turkeys have dimples, or gooseflesh on them. The addict’s skin would get goosebumpy and thus look like a cold turkey’s skin. Since then, the word has been used for other kinds of addictions, similar to “having a monkey on your back”.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2002, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-cold-turkey/117989/4 "2002-07-09T04:12:28Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Actually, going cold turkey initially referred to opiate addiction. Cold turkeys have dimples, or gooseflesh on them. The addict’s skin would get goosebumpy and thus look like a cold turkey’s skin

Got a quote for that? Date of usage?

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**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2002, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-cold-turkey/117989/5 "2002-07-09T04:22:38Z")

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As depicted in last week’s _Over the Hedge_ comic strip, the method entails sticking one’s head inside a frozen turkey (hence the name, obviously). By the time the turkey has thawed to where it’s attracting hordes of flies, one is considered cured and may remove the bird. 🙂