Poor as Job’s turkey
By DAN LANGFORD
This is a phrase I’ve heard all my life to describe abject poverty. It’s obviously of Biblical origin, for the travails of Job have been told for millenia.
I suppose it took a farmer familiar with fowl to coin the phrase, though; for with all the hardship poor Job endured, his livestock must have had it infinitely worse. Anybody’s turkey scratches around trying to find food, and Job’s must have had an exceptionally difficult time in staying fed. That, I suppose, is where the phrase comes from, and if the present (January 2009) distressed economy continues, God forbid, we may all be poor as Job’s turkey. Let’s hope we don’t experience the phrase first-hand.