The Spanish phrase estar en la edad del pavo literally translates as “to be in the age of the turkey” — to be at an awkward age. Comer pavo, literally “to eat turkey,” means to sit alone at a dance because no one has asked you to join them. The Spanish word pavo comes from Latin word pavo, which means peacock, and is the source of the English word pavonine, which means resembling a peacock or having coloration similar to a peacock’s. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Age of the Turkey”
We were talking earlier about Spanish idioms and I like this one that goes, which means to be in a duck’s age, a turkey, turkey, to be in the age of a turkey.
And that describes that period in adolescence where you’re just kind of clumsy, awkward. Isn’t that great?
Yeah. Yeah. Or if you go to a dance and you’re just kind of being a wallflower and nobody’s asked you to dance, you’re just kind of standing there next to the wall. That’s comer pavo, to eat turkey.
Yeah. Turkeys are pretty awkward, aren’t they?
Yeah. And what’s also interesting about this is that the word pavo in Spanish for turkey actually goes back to a Latin word, pavo, which means peacock.
And there’s an English word pavanine, which actually means like a peacock.
But really, a turkey is kind of like a bizarro world version of a peacock, right?
Turkey kind of wants to be a peacock, but never makes it.
A peacock wannabe?
Yeah, turkeys are kind of peacock wannabes.
Yeah, yeah, they want to be pavanine.
But to be in your turkey’s age is to have the awkwardness of adolescence.
Yeah.
Okay.
Right?
Yeah.
