n. 火鸡；笨蛋；失败之作
turkey 火鸡
词源同 Turkey,土耳其。在 16 世纪时，有一种类似火鸡的禽鸟叫 guinea fowl,几内亚禽鸟，或 几内亚鸡，从马达加斯加经过土耳其进入欧洲，所以又称为 turkey,后来西班牙殖民者发现美 洲新大陆后，他们注意到当地有一种较大的火鸡长得与这种非洲禽鸟非常相似，且这种鸟个 头巨大，非常笨拙，因此，他们也把这种鸟叫作 turkey,并引进欧洲。后随着生物学分类更加 细化，人们发现这两种禽鸟实际上属于不同种类，为以示区别，后来就把美洲的禽鸟叫 turkey, 把非洲的禽鸟借用希腊语 meleagris 称呼。
After the two birds were distinguished and the names differentiated, turkey was erroneously retained for the American bird, instead of the African. From the same imperfect knowledge and confusion Melagris, the ancient name of the African fowl, was unfortunately adopted by Linnæus as the generic name of the American bird. [OED]The New World bird itself reputedly reached England by 1524 at the earliest estimate, though a date in the 1530s seems more likely. The wild turkey, the North American form of the bird, was so called from 1610s. By 1575, turkey was becoming the usual main course at an English Christmas. Meaning "inferior show, failure," is 1927 in show business slang, probably from the bird's reputation for stupidity. Meaning "stupid, ineffectual person" is recorded from 1951. Turkey shoot "something easy" is World War II-era, in reference to marksmanship contests where turkeys were tied behind a log with their heads showing as targets. To talk turkey (1824) supposedly comes from an old tale of a Yankee attempting to swindle an Indian in dividing up a turkey and a buzzard as food.