The worst English common names for fish

[GaryE]

I consider myself lucky, because I grew up in a French speaking place, Quebec, and stores never bothered with English trade names. They tended to use Latin because there isn't the prejudice against the ancient language the way there is in English culture. It seems to me only Mandarin and English have the dislike of Latin because it isn't their language. I mean, it's no one's language. It's dead. That's the point. We're all equally befuddled.

German speakers pronounce Latin like it's German, French speakers like it's French, English speakers like it's, well they don't.

I see where something like a blood parrot, a completely unnaturally produced fish, would have a translated Mandarin name, since it can't have a Latin, scientific name. But we'd rather translate Mandarin names into English? We're weird.

A goonch? I looked it up as a word, and it's legit in Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi. So that word is cool in English, but Bagarius yarelli, named after an English guy named Yarrell, is too weird for us?

 

[Ichthys]

English have the dislike of Latin because it isn't their language.

Yet the English language is derived mainly from Latin and “Ancient” Greek... as are the “Latin” names.

 

[Ichthys]

I wish I knew the local names for choprae danios and odessa barbs. I bet I'd like them better than what we have now.

Odessa Barb, Pethia padamya. Padamya is Burmese for ‘Ruby’. Called Odessa Barb because that’s where it first appeared in the hobby. So go and discover a fish and bring it home and you can name it after your home town. Go figure.

 

[gwand]

Yet the English language is derived mainly from Latin and “Ancient” Greek... as are the “Latin” names.

Old English evolved from the languages spoken by the Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) who migrated to England from what is now Germany and Denmark.

 

[Ichthys]

German speakers pronounce Latin like it's German, French speakers like it's French, English speakers like it's, well they don't.

Us British folks don’t know how to pronounce it. When I started secondary school there were two classes for each year (small school). My class (1A) learned the hard (German) pronunciation, and the other class (1B) learned it the soft (french) way.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Odessa Barb, Pethia padamya. Padamya is Burmese for ‘Ruby’. Called Odessa Barb because that’s where it first appeared in the hobby. So go and discover a fish and bring it home and you can name it after your home town. Go figure.

OK, padamya barb it is.
I have spoken.

 

[Irksome]

Us British folks don’t know how to pronounce it. When I started secondary school there were two classes for each year (small school). My class (1A) learned the hard (German) pronunciation, and the other class (1B) learned it the soft (french) way.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to pronounce it a bit like Italian?

 

[Ichthys]

Wouldn’t it make more sense to pronounce it a bit like Italian?

I have always thought that.

 

[GaryE]

Wouldn’t it make more sense to pronounce it a bit like Italian?

My problem is I only use Italian for swearing when I drive in traffic, and that could get overly dramatic. Like, if I say "Enteromius jae" the same way I say "(what I say when someone cuts me off)" it would make fish presentations more entertaining, but I'd look even crazier than I am.

We have no clear idea of how to pronounce Latin, and given the size and complexity of the ancient Roman Empire, I'll wager they had a lot of different pronunciations, accents and influences. Maybe most Roman citizens pronounced 'wrongly' and their grammar centurions got angry and chiselled out snotty memes.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

My problem is I only use Italian for swearing when I drive in traffic, and that could get overly dramatic. Like, if I say "Enteromius jae" the same way I say "(what I say when someone cuts me off)" it would make fish presentations more entertaining, but I'd look even crazier than I am.

We have no clear idea of how to pronounce Latin, and given the size and complexity of the ancient Roman Empire, I'll wager they had a lot of different pronunciations, accents and influences. Maybe most Roman citizens pronounced 'wrongly' and their grammar centurions got angry and chiselled out snotty memes.

I think Latin names would make GREAT fake cusswords. But only species you don't like. Next time I get really mad, I'm going to shout, "Gyrinocheilus aymonieri!!!"

 

[Ichthys]

I think Latin names would make GREAT fake cusswords. But only species you don't like. Next time I get really mad, I'm going to shout, "Gyrinocheilus aymonieri!!!"

I’d use a slightly altered “Sucking Loach”.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Oh, thanks to @GaryE and @Magnum Man for reminding me: Lemon tetras. Another name that I'm sure marketing came up with. They look nothing like lemons. Their fins have a little bit of yellow on them, but they are mostly just a rather dull, grayish silver fish.

 

[GaryE]

Flowerhorns. A hybrid with a huge bulb of fatty tissue between its eyes. The only flower is the bulbous fat which I guess is like a tulip bulb. And horns? Are they going to gore you with a lard bag?

Bulbous lard bag Cichlids wouldn't sell though.

Emperor tetras. They shoal together. Can you imagine how entitled a shoal of emperors would be? The conversation would be obnoxious.

 

[OMG_FL]

Goonch .. cant think of a worse name than that

That name comes from a local language in an Asian countryp(robably India)
So we can't complain about that
But think about one the most common fish 'Gold Fish'
I mean who the f named them ?
Was he colour blind or something

 

[WhistlingBadger]

That name comes from a local language in an Asian countryp(robably India)
So we can't complain about that
But think about one the most common fish 'Gold Fish'
I mean who the f named them ?
Was he colour blind or something

Orangefish is too hard to say.