Antedating of "cold turkey"

[Laurence Horn]

Is there any received view on where the expression comes from (as opposed to when and from whom), i.e. why turkey?

LH

On Jun 15, 2013, at 1:54 PM, Stephen Goranson wrote:

> Here's a March 19, 1919 use of "cold turkey" in this sense.
> Paper: Tulsa World, published as Tulsa Daily World; Date: 03-16-1919; Volume: XIII; Issue: 174; Page: 4; columns 1-3,Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma  Am. Hist. Newsp. including EAN
> [Headline:] Confessions of a "Dope Fiend"....Takes the "Cold Turkey" Cure in Tulsa Jail....
> [also used the the article text col. 1:] When a man takes a "cold turkey" cure he must make up his mind to stay clear of his former companions....
>
> Stephen Goranson
> www.duke.edu/~goranson
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Hugo [hugovk at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Saturday, June 15, 2013 12:48 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: [ADS-L] Antedating of "cold turkey"
>
> "cold turkey", an abrupt withdrawal from drugs (OED: 13 Oct 1921)
>
> ------
>
> I like this quote: it's from a doctor who says it's the addicts'  own term and he also defines it in the same sentence.
>
> The Sun,  July 30,  1919,  Page 6,  Image 6, (New York [N.Y.])
>
> [Begin extract]
> Reports from several hospitals rela-
> tive to the cases of addicts who had been
> sent from the clinic to be cured, nearly
> all of them giving assurances of speedy
> cures failed to impress Dr. Copeland.
>
> "I am not satisfied with the methods
> in vogue in this city at present for cur-
> ing drug addicts," he said in referring to
> this matter. "It has been customary for
> hospitals to give what the addicts call
> the 'cold turkey treatment,' which means
> that the patient is taken off the drug at
> once. Two or three days later the ad-
> dict is declared to have been cured.
>
> "I have a report from one hospital at
> which seven patients are said to have
> been 'cured' in two days, and another
> from one where eleven are reported as
> 'cured' in two days. I feel confident
> that this practice will be met and cor-
> rected through the opening ot the new
> hospital, where individual treatment will
> be given to each addict."
> [End extract]
>
> 4th column, image:
> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1919-07-30/ed-1/seq-6/#date1=1836&sort=date&rows=50&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&index=26&words=cold+turkey&proxdistance=5&date2=1922&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=cold+turkey&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=19
> Or OCR text:
> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1919-07-30/ed-1/seq-6/ocr/
> Or PDF:
> http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30910F73D5C147A93C2AA178CD85F4D8185F9
>
>
> ------
>
> Two more.
>
> 9th August 1921:
> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1921-08-09/ed-1/seq-6/#date1=1836&sort=date&rows=50&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&index=1&words=Cold+cold+Turkey+turkey&proxdistance=5&date2=1922&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=cold+turkey&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=20
>
> A nurse's letter in response, 13th August 1921:
> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1921-08-13/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=1836&sort=date&rows=50&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&index=2&words=Cold+cold+Turkey+turkey&proxdistance=5&date2=1922&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=cold+turkey&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=20
>
> ------
>
> Hugo
>
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>
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