"The first European to set foot on American soil, the converso(convert from
Judaism) Luis de Torres, who sailed with Columbus in 1492, described in a
letter the strange new animal life in the New World, among them a "peacock."
He wrote in Hebrew, and the Hebrew word for peacock is tukki-which was
transformed by European Jewish poultry merchants into turkey. Therefore, every
Thanksgiving, Americans are feasting on a misnamed fowl"
found in book "A little Joy, a little Oy" by Marnie Winston-Macauley, 2001,
Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Who knew?
Stephen Yulish