• deltapi@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        21 hours ago

        I thought it was Mr. Hands, the aerospace engineer, that made us require that distinction.

        • LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          18 hours ago

          What was that acronym he came up with, something about I don’t need a bucket cuz the horse is just the right height 🤯

          • deltapi@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            16 hours ago

            Honestly, I try to avoid knowing any more about him than I can. I know a bunch of meta details, but didn’t dig that far into it.

    • chrischryse@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      15 hours ago

      For this one could it be horse back riding because people also used to have horse carts ? Unless in other countries it’s different lol

  • Stop Forgetting It@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    66
    ·
    1 day ago

    “Tuna fish” is a phase used primarily for canned tuna, but not for the live fish or things like tuna steak. It’s because when canned tuna was created in the US in the early 1900’s people who were not right next to the sea (like the majority of the US) did not know what “tuna” was. Firstly, the word is a of Spanish origin and secondly, its a salt water only fish. So in order to sell this to middle America, which was where most of the consumers were at the time but was also made up of people who have never seen the ocean, they added the word “fish” to show like other tinned fish that was commonly purchased: codfish, bluefish, and whitefish, this is also a fish and that is what you can expect when you open this can.

  • makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    64
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    2 days ago

    Colloquially tuna fish refers to the shredded salt brined tins of fish like this:

    Which I do think is worth distinguishing from the actual whole pieces of tuna

  • Alexander Daychilde@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    37
    ·
    2 days ago

    There’s no one single reason, but the top theories:

    1. Tuna oil was a thing before “tuna fish”. Yes, people could have said “tuna” but they didn’t. That’s language for you. People say “ATM machine” and “PIN number”, too.
    2. “Tuna fish” has a slightly sing-song pattern to the stressed/unstressed syllables that probably contributed
    3. For whatever reason, “tuna fish” tends to refer to canned tuna, whereas “tuna” can include fresh (or frozen) tuna.

    It’s… just how language evolves.

    I think, however, that “tuna fish” is slowly dying out in favour of just “tuna”. As a 50 year old, anecdotally I have seen the usage decrease in my lifetime.

  • Wolf@lemmy.today
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    1 day ago

    We have to specify so that Jessica Simpson doesn’t get confused with Chicken.

  • RBWells@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    1 day ago

    Well, where I live, Tuna is also a cactus. Prickly pear is often called tuna. So yeah, tuna (fish) and tuna (fruit) can need disambiguation.

  • Wilco@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 day ago

    Tuna is just the dish, tuna on a plate.

    Tuna Fish is actually Tuna Salad. You would order a tuna fish sandwich (tuna salad), but you would not go to a restaurant and say “I will have the tuna fish” because that is just tuna.

    • Whitebrow@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 day ago

      If I want the tuna salad, I’ll order tuna salad.

      Also if I’m walking up to a sandwich shop or a restaurant that serves tuna steaks on a grill or something of the sort and say “I’ll have the tuna” the assumption is, they know I what I mean (variance for multiple dishes not included).