The "turkey drop," according to NPR, is a breakup that occurs over the Thanksgiving holiday, typically between college freshmen who return home for the first time and finally pull the plug on a high school relationship, though as Dan Savage notes, adults can fall victim to the "turkey drop" as well, due to a desire by one partner to split before the pressures of the Christmas-New Year's-Valentine's Day season kick in. "Thanksgiving is really when you have to pull the trigger if you're not willing to tough it out through February," Savage says.

Savage has a point: it's pretty rough to break up with someone at Christmas, and even harder to ditch a relationship right around Valentine's Day. But at the same time, it's even crueler to stay in a relationship you'd rather not be in just to protect someone's feelings throughout the holiday season, isn't it? I'd imagine that racking up all of those Christmas and New Year's memories is just adding fuel to the post-breakup fire. (Though I have known couples who have stayed together through the holidays, not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of their children and/or family members.)

Still, some "turkey drops" are unavoidable: I actually went through it during my freshman year of college, breaking up with an on-again/off-again boyfriend whom I suddenly had nothing in common with after being away for three months. He was relieved, actually, as he felt the same way. It's quite strange when people you've known for years become strangers; I'd go so far as to guess that many people go through "turkey drops" of sorts with friends during this period as well, due to realizing you're not the same person you were mere months earlier, and neither are they.

So what say you, commenters? Have you been through a "turkey drop?" And do you think it's ultimately cruel or kind to initiate a breakup during the holidays?

Want To Break Up? 'Tis The Season, So Better Hurry [NPR]

[Image via Natalie Dee.]

The “Museum of Broken Relationships” is a traveling display of donated items related to failed relationships. The founders hope that the museum will provide a safe place to dispose of emotionally-laden objects that are too precious to throw out. So far, the museum has visited Croatia, London, Berlin, and now Singapore. At each stop, the museum picks up new items. In Berlin, an ax used by a woman to break up her ex-girlfriend’s furniture was on display next to a wedding dress, and in Singapore, a woman donated her “tear-soaked teddy bear,” the only remainder of her failed romance with a Chinese man, to the museum’s cause. The museum can also be accessed online. [Reuters]

It took these teens an average of 10 weeks to get over their relationship angst, and, according to Eastwick, "It would've taken about double that amount if you'd gone by their predictions." At first I wanted to call bullshit on this study, because most college freshman relationships are completely transient; you're not talking five years living together with a mortgage and a dog. But then I remembered being 18 and how goddamn melodramatic I was. I thought I was in the be-all, end-all of relationships my freshman year, and was completely and utterly devastated for almost a semester after that four month relationship ended.

Anyway! Eastman attributes the reasonably short recovery period for most breakups to the emotional resiliency of people and to the unpredictable nature of life. "Life goes on in the wake of a breakup," Eastwick told Live Science. "And when you're making your predictions, you aren't thinking about all the things that could be positive that might happen in the next week or two." He added, "[People] often don't realize the kinds of psychological defense mechanisms they'll use at the drop of a hat."

Breaking Up Not So Hard, Study Finds [Live Science]