And both in Latin and Greek, you don’t usually refer to “the parts of the fish that you eat” as “meat”. I’m a little bit tired of Anglos thinking that not only did God write the Bible in English, He also made the world in English. In fact, foreigners’ insistence in having any concepts, words or grammar which differ from those of English is just obnoxiousness in their part.
Spent last night at Yellow Bridge Brewery drinking their Big Dude IPA. They had Dad’s Mobile Grub food truck, and Dad’s special was Fish&Chips!! I asked Dad if it was Catholic fish and he angrily answered, " NO! It’s better". Delicious.
Yeah, there’s Klosky Hunky Food Truck in my area. Pieroghies, stuffed cabbage, and haluski. I think “hunky” is one of those words you can only use if you are one.
ETA: on my way to the brewery I noted that the local VFD had a Friday fish fry from 4-7 and their lot was packed at 5:30.
“JC! Just the man I wanted to see. We need you to, ah, work your magic.”
“Aww, can’t you just buy enough fish? It’s the same thing every year… I mean, Jesus Christ!”
“Hey, language!”
I don’t think it’s primarily a language thing. Even when I was growing up in the 80s, most Americans I knew did not consider fish to be a meat. Hell, even chicken got its own category, poultry, separate from “meat” in many cookbooks. It’s a cultural shift, and I see it in other languages, too (for example, I just googled in Polish, where I never heard mięso(meat) being used for fish, but it looks like there are groups of people that do consider it mięso.)
Come to Wisconsin, the land of perpetual Friday fish fries, served until the wee hours of Saturday. All year round. With rye bread, cole slaw, and potato pancakes and applesauce.
The feasting is kind of cheating - and there’s no doubt about cheating if it’s Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, when fasting is required in addition to abstinence. But you have to remember that whether a “lobster dinner” is a big fancy thing depends on where you live - in Colonial New England , lobster was undesirable and commonly fed to prisoners and even now, if my husband gets his retirement fantasy* lobster will not be a big fancy dinner.
- We spent a day on a lobster boat in Maine, so he found out that Maine residents can have 5 lobster traps . Now he wants to move up there and buy a boat.
I don’t know that it’s a cultural shift exactly , and “meat” certainly doesn’t always include “seafood” - but I do think “meatless” has changed its meaning. It now seems to be s synonym for vegetarian/vegan* and it wasn’t always
- I know they’re different- but I’ve seen “meatless” used to mean “vegan” sometimes and “vegetarian” other times.
Living in Illinois, I’ve been to Wisconsin many times. The Friday fish fry was so ubiquitous that I decided it must be some kind of state law, and that even places like Starbucks offered it.
Back in the day, meatless Fridays were year-round for Catholics. And are still a common (though not required outside of Lent) choice.
Even the protestants partake of it regularly here. Our devoutly calvinist population wouldn’t miss a Friday fish fry! Not even for an Oostburger. (Bratwurst and hamburger on a Semmel roll)
In the Middle Ages, Wednesdays and Saturdays were typically meatless as well (I believe it depended on one’s locality). In addition to the “humors” principle quoted above, the purported reason was to prevent one from becoming besotted with one’s stomach; I have also read that it was to decrease the temptation to poach a little game on the lord’s demesne.
While I’m on the digression, I should point out that “fasting” in the RCC is not what it is to others. There are some fairly arcane rules, but when I was growing up in the Dark Ages the basic principle was that a) the main meal of the day (whether midday or evening) should be smaller than it would be outside of fasting time, and b) the other meals taken together should be smaller than the main meal. Don’t know — and don’t really care — if that still holds.
You’d think immediate hanging if caught would have sufficed.
Grandfather was Slovak/Hungarian. I think I qualify. 
My mother will be making pierogies soon, for Easter. And I hope everyone got their paczki’s from Oakmont before Lent!!!
Our Giant Eagle had paczkis!!
Barnacle geese were argued to be fish. They were theorized to begin life as a barnacle, in the sea, then to climb a tree, hang from the underside of a branch, and slowly become a goose and drop off. There were illustrations and everything.
My parish has genuine Irish pieroghis at our fish frys.
But we also close at 7:00, partly so we can clear out in time for the AA group that uses the church hall after us.
Likewise puffin, I believe.
j