# Tunny **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 5, 2007, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656 "2007-03-05T08:30:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/1 "2007-03-05T08:30:37Z")
Does anyone use that anymore? Or is ‘tuna’ the only ‘acceptable’ word for the fish? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/2 "2007-03-05T15:09:56Z")
Anecdotal only, but I’ve never heard that term before now. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/3 "2007-03-05T15:19:11Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Anecdotal only, but I’ve never heard that term before now. [/QUOTE] Nor I. And it didn’t remind me of fish of the sea, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/4 "2007-03-05T15:25:53Z")
Nor I. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/5 "2007-03-05T15:27:17Z")
I’ve heard it before, but half-considered it to be some sort of pluralisation of _tuna_. Tunae, if you will. I’m sure that’s wrong, but there you are. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/6 "2007-03-05T15:33:05Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] And it didn’t remind me of fish of the sea, anyway. [/QUOTE] More like Fish of Paris, right? ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/7 "2007-03-05T15:38:11Z")
I’ve seen it used in documents written during the Tudor era. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/8 "2007-03-05T15:38:42Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] More like Fish of Paris, right? [/QUOTE] Can’t say that either. All I can say is that I had just watched _Unforgiven_ the other night and there was an amusing and (for me) unusual term for where the gal did _not_ get cut. It rhymed with “tunny” – thus the connection. If I’ve missed the general intent of “Fish of Paris” I’d love to be better informed. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/9 "2007-03-05T15:55:18Z")
Tunny, evidently pronounced to rhyme with “funny,” can mean two things: 1. Synonymous with tuna (which itself means one of several species of fish); or 2. The horse mackerel, or some other large fish in the mackerel family. Brainy Dictionary, not my favorite source for word meanings but in this case making the needed distinction, has [this definition](http://www.brainydictionary.com/words/tu/tunny233253.html) for meaning #2: > [@](#): > > Any one of several species of large oceanic fishes belonging to the Mackerel family, especially the common or great tunny (Orcynus / Albacora thynnus) native of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It sometimes weighs a thousand pounds or more, and is extensively caught in the Mediterranean. On the American coast it is called horse mackerel. See Illust. of Horse mackerel, under Horse. From what I was able to piece together from the rather disjointed Google references, it’s far more often a synonym for “tuna” but sometimes used for the somewhat larger, non-tuna fish. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/10 "2007-03-05T15:59:14Z")
From the Online Etymology Dictionary: > [@](#): > > tunny > large sea-fish of the mackerel order, 1530, probably from [M.Fr](http://M.Fr). thon (14c.), from O.Prov. ton, from L. thunnus “a tuna, tunny,” from Gk. thynnos “a tuna, tunny,” possibly in the literal sense of “darter,” from thynein “dart along.” > > tuna > 1881, from Amer.Sp. (California) tuna, from Sp. atun, from Ar. tun, from L. thunnus “tunny” (see tunny). Tunny is far older. It was a standard British usage into this century, although I don’t know how much it is used today. In the U.S. the Spanish derived tuna has superseded it, but I’m pretty sure you could find tunny used until the 1920s, as a quick newspaper search confirms. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/11 "2007-03-05T16:21:56Z")
Count me in the group that have never heard it used before. ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/12 "2007-03-05T16:26:44Z")
Never heard it used in Britain, and now I’m worried I’ve accidently been using an American version instead of a proper word for my whole life. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/13 "2007-03-05T16:49:00Z")
From the OED (1971 edition): First entry: Indian fig; prickly pear Second entry: Name in California for the tunny Third entry: A species of eel found in New Zealand ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/14 "2007-03-05T16:49:06Z")
I think the only time I’ve met “tunny” was when I read _Pinocchio_ as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/15 "2007-03-05T17:07:09Z")
I first ‘heard’ of the word when I read Thor Heyerdahl’s _Kon-Tiki_. ‘Tunny’ were a large part of their food on the way to Polynesia. I heard the word while watching a documentary last week, which promted me to ask about the usage. IIRC, it was a French production. So ‘tunny’ was used by a non-native English speaker (Heyerdahl) in the late-1940s, and by a non-native English speaker in a recent film. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/16 "2007-03-05T17:07:21Z")
It’s still used here, by fishermen. That’s what my uncle always called yellowfin and other tuna. But you get tuna in the restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tunny/394656/17 "2007-03-09T19:27:48Z")
[Lawrence From Office Space] No. No, man. Shit, no, man. I believe you’d get your ass kicked sayin’ something like that, man. [/Lawrence From Office Space]