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From paksoy@babbage.franklin.edu Sun Jan 23 09:50:45 2000
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2000 08:57:16 -0800
From: paksoy <paksoy@babbage.franklin.edu>
To: Haines Brown <brownh@hartford-hwp.com>
Subject: cae 21
X-UIDL: c7b2f0b0e7b6523a1167814f1d1abaac

Happy Meleagris Gallopavo Day

By H. B. Paksoy, Journal of American Studies of Turkey, Vol., 6, 1997: 89

Most Americans tend to think that the Turkish Republic is named after a bird. As one result, quite a few Turks in the US, at one time or other, had to answer the question What do you Turks eat during Thanksgiving? This query is especially heard during November of each year, as Americans prepare to observe the quintessentially American holiday.



Meleagris gallopavo was then introduced to Egypt, a province of the Ottoman empire and entered the Turkish language as hindi (from India). When traders took a breeding stock from Ottoman (Turkish) Egypt to Spain and the British Isles, the bird was designated Turkey.

As a result, the pilgrims landing on Plymouth Rock in 1620 were familiar with Turkey when they encountered it in their new home. After the 1776 Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin suggested that turkey, native of the land be designated as the symbol of the young American republic. Instead, Haliaeetus Leucocephalus (Bald Eagle) was given this honor.