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Black folks have unique ways of communicating with each other. And that’s especially true when we call out fakeness.
Calling someone a "jive turkey" hits different, even today. It's funny but still gets the point across. "Jive" is an exaggerated way of talking to impress someone. By the 1960s, "jive" had evolved to represent stuck-up speech and a general attitude of trying to deceive.
Like "jive," the word "turkey" was used in the 1930s to describe someone foolish. Combining "jive" and "turkey" became a playful way to call out someone who was ridiculous or phony.
Fast-forward to the 1970s, and calling a slick liar a "jive turkey" became the norm. It was popularized by Blaxploitation films, comedians like Eddie Murphy, and TV shows like Good Times and Sanford and Son.
Despite the unusual origins of our slang, what matters is that we find ways to communicate outside of the mainstream. To outsiders, it's slang, it's AAVE, it's ghetto talk. To us, it's how we maintain the essence of who we are and how we keep each other alert to the things and people that don't serve us.