[Ads-l] cold turkey (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill CIV (US)]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

OED has 21 Oct 1921

28 Sep 1898 _Cincinnati Post_ p 2 col 3
"But I will corner him and he will either have to go through with the match or quit cold turkey."

[many other cites for "quit cold turkey" from boxing press through 1921]

>From a WWI soldier's letter back home:
17 Jan 1919 Safford AZ _Graham Guardian_ p 3 col 2
"I am in a little town that has been shot up quite a lot, just a little west of Verdun, and have been stationed here while the boys were making their great fight which made the Hun quit cold turkey."


16 Mar 1919 _Tulsa [OK] World_ sec 2 p 4 col 2
"I don't care what anybody says, the best cure is "cold turkey." What I am referring to is to put a man in jail and if he isn't man enough to use a little will power along with a great deal of sufferings then he will have to let the cold prison steel act as his will power."

30 July 1919 New York _The Sun_ p 6 col 4
"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."


7 Aug 1921 _Ogden [UT] Standard-Examiner_ p 5 col 4
"Physicians are not permitted to prescribe drugs for addicts instead of treating the patients by a course of gradual withdrawal, as was possible under the license system, the city treats them by what is called the "cold turkey" course.  This is the withdrawal of all drugs unless the addict is in actual danger of death."


9 Aug 1921 _New York Tribune_ p 6 col 1
"He said the "cold turkey" treatment, or complete withdrawal of the drug,  had been used in all cases at the hospital and that they had never lost a case."


Many examples of "cold turkey" from the 1910's seem to be related to "talk turkey"; also as a synonym for "brass tacks".


Comedian Ned Danoy was in a vaudeville production called "Cold Turkey" in 1919.  Possibly a vector? 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of David Daniel
> Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2015 6:52 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: cold turkey
> 
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       David Daniel <dad at COARSECOURSES.COM>
> Subject:      cold turkey
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> 
> HDAS cited in Merriam-Webster's article "Why do we guit 'cold turkey'?"
> 'Ti= s
> here: http://www.merriam-webster.com/blog/why-do-we-quit-cold-
> turkey.htm
> DAD
> 
> 
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