Shrimp(s) and prawns

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Mar 10, 2009, at 5:05 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Shrimp(s) and prawns
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I've just heard the character, "di Noso"(sp?),


DiNozzo

> of NCIS say that
> "prawns" is the Australian word for "shrimps." I've long been under
> the impression that "shrimp" is the standard word for _shrimp_ and
> that "prawn" is the standard word for _prawn_ throughout the
> English-speaking world.

the wikipedia page isn't bad:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prawn

yes, it's complicated.

arnold

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