See like turkeys voting for Christmas on Wiktionary
Download JSON data for like turkeys voting for Christmas meaning in All languages combined (8.4kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "David Penhaligon",
"nat": "the British",
"nobycat": "1",
"nocap": "1",
"occ": "Liberal Party politician"
},
"expansion": "coined by the British Liberal Party politician David Penhaligon",
"name": "coinage"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Because turkeys are commonly eaten at Christmas, turkeys voting for (an early) Christmas would be hastening their own death. The phrase is thought to have been coined by the British Liberal Party politician David Penhaligon (1944–1986) who used it to express opposition to the 1977 Lib–Lab pact. It was popularized by the British Prime Minister James Callaghan (1912–2005) who used it in the House of Commons in March 1979 when his Labour Party lost a vote of no confidence: see the 1977 and 1979 quotations.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "phrase",
"head": "like turkeys voting for Christmas"
},
"expansion": "like turkeys voting for Christmas",
"name": "head"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"like"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "phrase",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "British English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"parents": [
"Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English similes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"parents": [
"Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with raw sortkeys",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Christmas",
"orig": "en:Christmas",
"parents": [
"Christianity",
"Holidays",
"Abrahamism",
"Observances",
"Religion",
"Calendar",
"Culture",
"Timekeeping",
"Society",
"Time",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "lifeform",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Fowls",
"orig": "en:Fowls",
"parents": [
"Birds",
"Vertebrates",
"Chordates",
"Animals",
"Lifeforms",
"All topics",
"Life",
"Fundamental",
"Nature"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "[1977 December 14, Alistair Michie, Simon Hoggart, “The Wispy Beards Strike Back”, in The Pact: The Inside Story of the Lib-Lab Government, 1977–8, London: Quartet Books, published 1978, page 156",
"text": "The next morning [14 December 1977] the Liberals held a two-and-a-half meeting at which Steel let them have their head. Only two MPs, Howells and Johnston, said they were willing to continue the Pact. The opponents were delighted. […] ‘Us voting for the Pact is like a turkey voting for Christmas’, said David Penhaligon]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "[1979 March 28, James Callaghan, Prime Minister, “Her Majesty’s Government (Opposition Motion)”, in House of Commons Debates (House of Commons of the United Kingdom), volume 965, London: Parliament of the United Kingdom, archived from the original on 2022-12-07, column 471",
"text": "The minority parties have walked into a trap. If they win, there will be a general election. I am told that the current joke going around the House is that it is the first time in recorded history that turkeys have been known to vote for an early Christmas.]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1998, Philip Allmendinger, Huw Thomas, “Conclusions”, in Philip Allmendinger, Huw Thomas, editors, Urban Planning and the British New Right, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, page 247",
"text": "Many of the responses to proposals, particularly regarding deregulation, were unsupported: it would have been like turkeys voting for Christmas in some respects.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2001, Trevor Kitching, “The Internet – the New Frontier for Scam Merchants”, in Purchasing Scams and How to Avoid Them, Aldershot, Hampshire, Burlington, Vt.: Gower Publishing, page 90",
"text": "Bear in mind, however, that for some purchasing people, deciding to use an agent is a little like turkeys voting for Christmas.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2002, Frances Gardiner, Mary O’Dowd, “The Women’s Movement and Women Politicians in the Republic of Ireland, 1980–2000: Introduction”, in Angela Bourke et al., editors, The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, volumes V (Irish Women’s Writing and Traditions), New York, N.Y.: New York University Press, page 233, column 1",
"text": "The anti-divorce rallying cry of Fine Gael’s Alice Glenn, ‘Women voting for divorce is like turkeys voting for Christmas’, captured the sense of fear felt by many at the economic consequences of divorce for women.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Self-defeating; serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer of the action."
],
"id": "en-like_turkeys_voting_for_Christmas-en-phrase-A2PnQepA",
"links": [
[
"humorous",
"humorous"
],
[
"action",
"action#Noun"
],
[
"Self-defeating",
"self-defeating"
],
[
"serving",
"serve#Verb"
],
[
"bring about",
"bring about"
],
[
"situation",
"situation"
],
[
"detrimental",
"detrimental"
],
[
"performer",
"performer"
]
],
"qualifier": "simile",
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, simile, humorous, of an action) Self-defeating; serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer of the action."
],
"raw_tags": [
"of an action"
],
"related": [
{
"word": "chickens for Colonel Sanders"
},
{
"word": "cut off one's nose to spite one's face"
},
{
"word": "dig a hole for oneself"
},
{
"word": "dig one's own grave"
},
{
"word": "hoist by one's own petard"
},
{
"word": "own goal"
},
{
"word": "rod for one's back"
},
{
"word": "saw off the branch one is sitting on"
},
{
"word": "shoot oneself in the foot"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "like turkeys voting for an early Christmas"
}
],
"tags": [
"British",
"humorous"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "sahata omaa oksaansa"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "scier la branche sur laquelle on est assis"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "se tirer une balle dans le pied"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "darsi la zappa sui piedi"
},
{
"code": "ko",
"lang": "Korean",
"roman": "keuriseumaseue chanseonghaneun chilmyeonjotte",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"word": "크리스마스에 찬성하는 칠면조떼"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"word": "podcinać gałąź, na której się siedzi"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"note": "пчёлы про́тив мёда (pčóly prótiv mjóda, literally “bees against honey”)",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"word": "estar cavando su propia sepultura"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "estar cavando su sepultura"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"James Callaghan",
"Lib–Lab pact",
"Oxford University Press"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/laɪk ˌtɜːkiz ˈvəʊtɪŋ fə ˈkɹɪsməs/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/laɪk ˌtɝkiz ˈvoʊtɪŋ fɚ ˈkɹɪsməs/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"ipa": "[-ɾɪŋ-]",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɪsməs"
},
{
"audio": "En-au-like turkeys voting for Christmas.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b7/En-au-like_turkeys_voting_for_Christmas.ogg/En-au-like_turkeys_voting_for_Christmas.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/En-au-like_turkeys_voting_for_Christmas.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "like turkeys voting for Christmas"
}
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "David Penhaligon",
"nat": "the British",
"nobycat": "1",
"nocap": "1",
"occ": "Liberal Party politician"
},
"expansion": "coined by the British Liberal Party politician David Penhaligon",
"name": "coinage"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Because turkeys are commonly eaten at Christmas, turkeys voting for (an early) Christmas would be hastening their own death. The phrase is thought to have been coined by the British Liberal Party politician David Penhaligon (1944–1986) who used it to express opposition to the 1977 Lib–Lab pact. It was popularized by the British Prime Minister James Callaghan (1912–2005) who used it in the House of Commons in March 1979 when his Labour Party lost a vote of no confidence: see the 1977 and 1979 quotations.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "phrase",
"head": "like turkeys voting for Christmas"
},
"expansion": "like turkeys voting for Christmas",
"name": "head"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"like"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "phrase",
"related": [
{
"word": "chickens for Colonel Sanders"
},
{
"word": "cut off one's nose to spite one's face"
},
{
"word": "dig a hole for oneself"
},
{
"word": "dig one's own grave"
},
{
"word": "hoist by one's own petard"
},
{
"word": "own goal"
},
{
"word": "rod for one's back"
},
{
"word": "saw off the branch one is sitting on"
},
{
"word": "shoot oneself in the foot"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"British English",
"English coinages",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
"English humorous terms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English phrases",
"English similes",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"English terms with quotations",
"Pages with raw sortkeys",
"Rhymes:English/ɪsməs",
"Rhymes:English/ɪsməs/8 syllables",
"en:Christmas",
"en:Fowls"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "[1977 December 14, Alistair Michie, Simon Hoggart, “The Wispy Beards Strike Back”, in The Pact: The Inside Story of the Lib-Lab Government, 1977–8, London: Quartet Books, published 1978, page 156",
"text": "The next morning [14 December 1977] the Liberals held a two-and-a-half meeting at which Steel let them have their head. Only two MPs, Howells and Johnston, said they were willing to continue the Pact. The opponents were delighted. […] ‘Us voting for the Pact is like a turkey voting for Christmas’, said David Penhaligon]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "[1979 March 28, James Callaghan, Prime Minister, “Her Majesty’s Government (Opposition Motion)”, in House of Commons Debates (House of Commons of the United Kingdom), volume 965, London: Parliament of the United Kingdom, archived from the original on 2022-12-07, column 471",
"text": "The minority parties have walked into a trap. If they win, there will be a general election. I am told that the current joke going around the House is that it is the first time in recorded history that turkeys have been known to vote for an early Christmas.]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1998, Philip Allmendinger, Huw Thomas, “Conclusions”, in Philip Allmendinger, Huw Thomas, editors, Urban Planning and the British New Right, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, page 247",
"text": "Many of the responses to proposals, particularly regarding deregulation, were unsupported: it would have been like turkeys voting for Christmas in some respects.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2001, Trevor Kitching, “The Internet – the New Frontier for Scam Merchants”, in Purchasing Scams and How to Avoid Them, Aldershot, Hampshire, Burlington, Vt.: Gower Publishing, page 90",
"text": "Bear in mind, however, that for some purchasing people, deciding to use an agent is a little like turkeys voting for Christmas.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2002, Frances Gardiner, Mary O’Dowd, “The Women’s Movement and Women Politicians in the Republic of Ireland, 1980–2000: Introduction”, in Angela Bourke et al., editors, The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, volumes V (Irish Women’s Writing and Traditions), New York, N.Y.: New York University Press, page 233, column 1",
"text": "The anti-divorce rallying cry of Fine Gael’s Alice Glenn, ‘Women voting for divorce is like turkeys voting for Christmas’, captured the sense of fear felt by many at the economic consequences of divorce for women.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Self-defeating; serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer of the action."
],
"links": [
[
"humorous",
"humorous"
],
[
"action",
"action#Noun"
],
[
"Self-defeating",
"self-defeating"
],
[
"serving",
"serve#Verb"
],
[
"bring about",
"bring about"
],
[
"situation",
"situation"
],
[
"detrimental",
"detrimental"
],
[
"performer",
"performer"
]
],
"qualifier": "simile",
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, simile, humorous, of an action) Self-defeating; serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer of the action."
],
"raw_tags": [
"of an action"
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "like turkeys voting for an early Christmas"
}
],
"tags": [
"British",
"humorous"
],
"wikipedia": [
"James Callaghan",
"Lib–Lab pact",
"Oxford University Press"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/laɪk ˌtɜːkiz ˈvəʊtɪŋ fə ˈkɹɪsməs/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/laɪk ˌtɝkiz ˈvoʊtɪŋ fɚ ˈkɹɪsməs/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"ipa": "[-ɾɪŋ-]",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɪsməs"
},
{
"audio": "En-au-like turkeys voting for Christmas.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b7/En-au-like_turkeys_voting_for_Christmas.ogg/En-au-like_turkeys_voting_for_Christmas.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/En-au-like_turkeys_voting_for_Christmas.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "sahata omaa oksaansa"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "scier la branche sur laquelle on est assis"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "se tirer une balle dans le pied"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "darsi la zappa sui piedi"
},
{
"code": "ko",
"lang": "Korean",
"roman": "keuriseumaseue chanseonghaneun chilmyeonjotte",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"word": "크리스마스에 찬성하는 칠면조떼"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"word": "podcinać gałąź, na której się siedzi"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"note": "пчёлы про́тив мёда (pčóly prótiv mjóda, literally “bees against honey”)",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"word": "estar cavando su propia sepultura"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "of an action: self-defeating or serving to bring about a situation detrimental to the performer",
"tags": [
"verb"
],
"word": "estar cavando su sepultura"
}
],
"word": "like turkeys voting for Christmas"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (ae36afe and 304864d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.