# What is the name for turkey tails? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [February 21, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403 "2021-02-21T19:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/1 "2021-02-21T19:20:09Z")
You know, that fatty, bony bit of the roasted turkey that most people don’t use. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/2 "2021-02-21T19:21:01Z")
On a chicken, people call that bit “the pope’s nose.” My kids fight over it. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/3 "2021-02-21T19:22:44Z")
It’s the Pope’s nose on a turkey too–guess popes come in all sizes. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/4 "2021-02-21T19:29:35Z")
Pope’s nose! Where’s the :smackhead: smiley? Thank you both. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/5 "2021-02-21T21:25:06Z")
I have never heard of this. Have any other body parts of popes lent their names to objects? ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/6 "2021-02-21T21:39:20Z")
> “Pope’s nose” redirects here. It may also refer to the licence plate light on early [Volkswagen Beetles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Beetle). > **[Pygostyle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygostyle)** > > Pygostyle describes a skeletal condition in which the final few caudal vertebrae are fused into a single ossification, supporting the tail feathers and musculature. In modern birds, the rectrices attach to these. The pygostyle is the main component of the uropygium, a structure colloquially known as the bishop's nose, parson's nose, pope's nose, or sultan's nose. This is the fleshy protuberance visible at the posterior end of a bird (most commonly a chicken or turkey) that has been dressed for co... I am told my grandfather preferred “the part of the chicken/turkey that went over the fence last.” > **Turkey tail** or **turkey butt** has an international exportation market in places such as [Micronesia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micronesia), [Samoa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samoa), and [Ghana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghana). The turkey tail is commonly exported from America because it is considered unhealthy and cut off the normal turkey.[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygostyle#cite_note-JPE-6) After World War II, cheap imported turkey tails became popular in Samoa. Because the cut has a very high fat content, it was banned from 2007 to 2013 to combat obesity, only allowed back when Samoa joined the World Trade Organization. The meat is otherwise used in [pet food](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_food).[[7]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygostyle#cite_note-7) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/7 "2021-02-21T21:44:01Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > On a chicken, people call that bit “the pope’s nose.” My kids fight over it. Also, the parson’s nose. I have heard that Catholics call it the parson’s nose, and Protestants call it the Pope’s nose. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/8 "2021-02-21T22:09:51Z")
I’ve only heard Pope’s nose from Catholics, but it’s not a term that comes up often. I’m not even quite sure what kind of clergy a parson is. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/9 "2021-02-21T22:19:37Z")
In Yiddish it’s the “pupik”, though that sometimes refers to the gizzard. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/10 "2021-02-21T22:20:40Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I’m not even quite sure what kind of clergy a parson is. Protestant, usually Anglican. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/11 "2021-02-21T22:40:38Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > In Yiddish it’s the “pupik”, That’s what I originally thought (though I was quickly reminded of Pope’s nose – Hey, they both start with ‘p’), but when I looked it up before posting I saw that ‘pupik’ meant [‘belly button’](https://jel.jewish-languages.org/words/447). ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/12 "2021-02-21T23:10:12Z")
It does. But in cooking it means the tail end or gizzard of a chicken, who have no belly buttons. Yiddish was both my parents first language and that’s what they called the tail end of the chicken. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/13 "2021-02-21T23:29:15Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I’ve only heard Pope’s nose from Catholics, but it’s not a term that comes up often. I’m not even quite sure what kind of clergy a parson is. I recall Jean “Edith Bunker” Stapleton relating (with shame) an anecdote in which, as a child, she was tasked with picking up a chicken from the butcher store, and being instructed to tell the butcher to “cut off the Pope’s nose.” ETA : And “Pope’s nose” would really be the only clergyman whose nose would make sense. Because Popes were supposed to be always old Italian men, and old Italian men have big noses. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/14 "2021-02-21T23:36:05Z")
Yeah, I guess historically in contrast to vicar, depending on who runs their particular church. But I associate parson with western films, and vicar with Anglican but not Episcopalian traditions. That’s probably wrong, but how I heard the terms the most. Apparently [turkey tails are contentious in some countries](https://www.nhpr.org/post/samoans-await-return-tasty-turkey-tail#stream/0), blamed for involvement in an unhealthy diet. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/15 "2021-02-22T00:37:30Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > vicar with Anglican but not Episcopalian traditions. A vicar is a parson (a paid member of the clergy) who is an employee rather than being directly entitled to the income of the of the church (a rector). So the distinction was only really important in the Anglican / European traditions where the church had property and was paid taxes. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/16 "2021-02-22T01:01:16Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > In Yiddish it’s the “pupik” That’s what we always called it. My brother and I always fought over it. One Thanksgiving a guest grabbed it, but it sat on her plate uneaten. From that day on, we called her “the pupik thief.” ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/17 "2021-02-22T03:26:08Z")
It’s the first bit of the hot Costco rotisserie chicken that gets snitched, before I cut it up for dinner. “The Pupik Thief” sounds like a Shalom Aleichem story. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/18 "2021-02-22T16:13:48Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Also, the parson’s nose. I have heard that Catholics call it the parson’s nose, and Protestants call it the Pope’s nose. Interesting - where I grew up (West Cumbria, England) we had what you might call Sectarianism Lite - aware of a separation but as kids it wasn’t a thing we worried too much about. I was notionally C of E and only ever knew the term _Parson’s Nose_, (so the opposite of what you had heard); and I would have thought, if it just went by religion, I would have at least heard of _Pope’s Nose_ because of the sizeable local catholic population. Fiddling around on google I wonder if it’s regional, and _Pope’s Nose_ is more of an American thing? j ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/19 "2021-02-22T16:17:14Z")
I never heard Pope’s nose in New York; my family was Catholic. I don’t recall we used parson’s nose either. I first heard Pope’s nose from a Protestant roommate. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403/20 "2021-02-22T16:43:56Z")
Grew up in Ohio where huge chicken and turkey farms are quite common and I’ve never heard it called that as well. My parents cut away the entire back where the tail piece was and sometimes fried it up or just threw it away. Same with the neck, heart, liver and gizzard. Sometimes used and sometimes not. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-for-turkey-tails/933403.md?page=2)