turkeys voting for an early Christmas
- idiom
- UK
:
pavos votando por una Navidad anticipada
- Implementing these new policies would be like turkeys voting for an early Christmas.
Examples
-
Backing that candidate would be turkeys voting for an early Christmas for the party.
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If the workers accept those terms, it's turkeys voting for an early Christmas.
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Don't be like the turkeys voting for an early Christmas!
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Many workers feel like turkeys voting for an early Christmas when they support harmful policies.
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Supporting that policy is equivalent to turkeys voting for an early Christmas for the employees.
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When the team agrees to those cuts, it will be like turkeys voting for an early Christmas.
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Accepting those terms would be just like turkeys voting for an early Christmas.
Synonyms
A decision that harms the people who make it, such as agreeing to lower pay
Doing something risky and foolish that will likely make you lose money or get into trouble
To make a poor choice at the wrong time
Antonyms
How Self-Defeating
- Informal
3
7.1
- Informal
1
9.8
- UK
- Informal
20
8.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
turkey + vote + for + an + early + Christmas
The overall meaning relies on a cultural/metaphorical image (that turkeys will be slaughtered at Christmas) rather than a straightforward composition of the literal words; knowing 'turkey', 'vote', 'early' and 'Christmas' does not by itself make the ironic, self-destructive sense obvious. Because the sense depends on cultural background and metaphorical inference rather than standard compositional patterns, a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would probably not derive the intended meaning.
Etymology
Turkeys voting for an early Christmas gives a clear picture: imagine turkeys choosing to make Christmas come sooner — the day they will be eaten. That's why the phrase means doing or supporting something that is clearly 'against your own interests'.