(no subject)

[ino]

Who: Ino and you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide Video
Action: Three Twins
When: Now

[ Here's your friendly neighborhood blonde ninja with a BURNING question for you all. ]

All right, I have to know. Why is it that people say "tuna fish" and not just "tuna"? You don't say "cat mammal" or "eagle bird". You just say the name of it. Even with other fish you don't do that! Why do people say "tuna fish"? It doesn't make any sense.

Is this some kind of weird English thing?

Comments

[unbearablynaive]

[The Vision speaks with a British accent, so it actually sounds like tuner. Sorry about that.]

It's also the name of a river in Europe in one of the common languages, in fact. Sailors used the word "tunny" to refer to the fish and keep it distinct from the river, but as time went on the distinction became less and the designation was necessary.

[ino]

[ She looks a little amused. ]

Leave it to you to have the exact answer, huh, Vision? Well, I guess that makes sense. Kinda stupid to name the fish the same as the river, though.

[unbearablynaive]

The languages came from entirely different regions, so that much is understandable. It would have made more sense if it had been a freshwater fish found in the river, but alas, it was entirely coincidental.

[ino]

... Wait, but aren't freshwater fish the only kind of fish in a river?

[unbearablynaive]

There are a few fish accustomed to brackish water that can be in either, but to clarify, I meant one found in the river at all. Tuna is, of course, a deep ocean fish.