# "Tuna fish" - why aren't any other kinds of fish redundant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 3, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124 "2009-11-03T02:05:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/21 "2009-11-03T05:33:31Z")
“Fish, and visitors, smell in three days.” – Ben Franklin We have a time limit on this thread, folks. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/22 "2009-11-03T05:59:57Z")
Is it an Americanism? People here don’t add the extra word ‘fish’. It’s just a ‘tuna sandwich’, a ‘can of tuna’ etc. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/23 "2009-11-03T06:15:27Z")
Yeah - I’ve not heard ‘tuna fish’ in either the UK, NZ or Australia. Perhaps it comes from advertising in the US, which is why it’s more common there? ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/24 "2009-11-03T10:47:14Z")
I see the term “tuna fish” most typically applied to canned (or in modern times, packaged) tuna to distinguish the canned fish from, say, salmon. The term itself has a certain nice roll off the tongue so that it becomes easy to say even when it’s clearly redundant. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/25 "2009-11-03T11:28:47Z")
Tuna is cactus fruit that has been eaten by people in the southwestern USA and Mexico for a long time. I’m sure the addition of the word fish by English speakers was to make sure it was clear they meant the fish and not the fruit. Where would this use of the additional word fish spread from? It would spread from the regions that had Spanish and English speakers. Tuna or Prickly Pear is grown commercially for market like we grow apples in the the northern USA. There is a large enough area of the mixing of cultures to require that distinction of fish after Tuna in common speech. ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/26 "2009-11-03T12:52:18Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > You can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish. > > Well, _someone_ had to say it! Of course you can can tuna fish. How do you think[canned tuna](canned tuna) is produced? Tuna canneries can tuna. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/27 "2009-11-03T13:39:44Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Sorry, I am not familiar with the REO Speedwagon discography. :eek: Next you’ll be telling me that you don’t know all the Bee Gees albums, either. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/28 "2009-11-03T14:34:02Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Stuffed. Except that gefilte fish isn’t stuffed. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/29 "2009-11-03T14:35:54Z")
> [@Harmonious Discord](#): > > Tuna is cactus fruit that has been eaten by people in the southwestern USA and Mexico for a long time. I’m sure the addition of the word fish by English speakers was to make sure it was clear they meant the fish and not the fruit. I doubt it. The use of names like “tunny fish”, German “Thunfisch”, Swedish “Tonfisk”, etc., by speakers of Germanic languages to refer to the fish _Thunnus thynnus_ appears to have been common long before English speakers in general knew that there was such a thing as the tuna cactus. The substitution of the word “tuna” in English for its more traditional synonym “tunny” does seem to have been influenced by Spanish-American usage, but that didn’t happen till the late 19th century, centuries after the appearance of “tunny fish” and its cognates in Germanic languages. ---
**Author:** ![King\_Friday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@King\_Friday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Friday)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/30 "2009-11-03T14:53:36Z")
Dolphin fish. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/31 "2009-11-03T15:17:09Z")
1. There is nothing wrong with redundancy in language. In fact, it’s an important component, not a flaw. 2. “Tuna fish” was just how people decided to use the term. It’s likely that, when it was first being served, people didn’t know what “tuna” was (it looks like canned tuna is just over 100 years old). So when restaurants first served it (and groceries first stocked it), they called it “tuna fish” to give their patrons an idea of what it was they were serving. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/32 "2009-11-03T15:21:23Z")
It would be an important distinction if you were visiting the hill of the elves in Aman. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/33 "2009-11-03T15:27:54Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Except that gefilte fish isn’t stuffed. You skin and debone the fish, then grind it, mix it with flour or breadcrumbs, and then stuff it back in the skin. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/34 "2009-11-03T15:29:08Z")
I’ve heard flounder fish. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/35 "2009-11-03T15:38:39Z")
> [@King\_Friday](#): > > Dolphin fish. Mahi Mahi: talk about redundancy. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/36 "2009-11-03T16:00:40Z")
As a matter of usage, the aquatic vertebrate is a tuna (no fish); its flesh, usually canned but sometimes served as a steak, is ‘tuna fish’ – much like the distinction between pig and pork, or between cattle and beef. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/37 "2009-11-03T16:52:28Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Tuna is cactus fruit that has been eaten by people in the southwestern USA and Mexico for a long time. I’m sure the addition of the word fish by English speakers was to make sure it was clear they meant the fish and not the fruit. Where would this use of the additional word fish spread from? It would spread from the regions that had Spanish and English speakers. Tuna or Prickly Pear is grown commercially for market like we grow apples in the the northern USA. There is a large enough area of the mixing of cultures to require that distinction of fish after Tuna in common speech. Surely not true. “Tuna fish” was commonly used in New York in the 1950s when I was growing up. We had absolutely no idea that the cactus fruit existed, much less what it was called. I remember seeing some for sale for the first time in a supermarket in the late 1960s or early 1970s, when it was labeled “prickly pear fruit,” not “tuna.” Tuna fish was used long before there was any need to make the distinction; and when it was, the distinction was made by calling the fruit something else. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/38 "2009-11-03T16:59:09Z")
It can’t be true because you never knew something existed is not true. The fruit and name has been around for centuries. The need for a distinction would have been generated in the southwest and moved out from there. Only one person selling the stuff canned would have needed to see a reason to add the word fish to the can for distinction and it would have spread. I’m saying it’s a viable reason for the usage and nobody has proven it’s not. It should be considered if someone looks for the origin. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/39 "2009-11-03T17:05:24Z")
> [@King\_Friday](#): > > Dolphin fish. er…tuna mammal? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124/40 "2009-11-03T17:07:52Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > It can’t be true because you never knew something existed is not true. > > The fruit and name has been around for centuries. The need for a distinction would have been generated in the southwest and moved out from there. Only one person selling the stuff canned would have needed to see a reason to add the word fish to the can for distinction and it would have spread. Even if there were the need for a distinction in the southwest, there is no reason for it to have spread to areas, such as New York or most of the rest of the country where no distinction was necessary. Your explanation is pure speculation, without a shred of evidence in its favor and contradicted by the usage of the word in New York in the 1950s. You’re going to have to provide some kind of cite for it to be considered remotely credible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuna-fish-why-arent-any-other-kinds-of-fish-redundant/516124.md?page=3)