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Scrod

A small, ambiguous piece of fish that never knows if it's cod or haddock. Some people claim that "scrod" is a young cod, while "schrod" is a young haddock, but, in fact, there's no difference - it's basically whatever's cheaper at the fish pier that day.

"So a guy lands at Logan and gets in a cab and says to the driver, 'Take me somewhere I can get scrod!" And the driver says, "I've never heard anyone use the pluperfect participle before!"

Comments

I heard that scrod was the Smallest Catch,Remaining On Deck. SCROD

Lou on April 9, 2004 08:18 PM.

I heard it was" Special catch-received on day"

barb on May 17, 2004 10:57 AM.

I dont get the joke.. is it a joke?

Koby on June 21, 2004 03:16 AM.

The joke is that scrod is the pluperfect particle of to screwed.

Han Su Kim on June 29, 2004 12:25 PM.

scrod....Seafood-Catch-Run-Of-Day.

nelson on August 2, 2004 10:41 PM.

Scrod is a size of fish, used to measure both haddock and cod. Boston Scrod refers to COD...

MIKE the Canadian

Mike on August 31, 2004 01:24 PM.

Scrod is a sohisticated word that has been fabricatd by seafood restaurants
and grocers so they may be able to charge more
for a piece of cod!!!!!!

Thomas Poulakidas on September 10, 2004 11:00 PM.

The word "scrod" was fabricated so restaurants and grocers can charge more for cod that became sophisticated.

Thomas Poulakidas on September 11, 2004 09:24 AM.

If someone were going to make up a name for a fish that would allow them to charge more, they would not choose the word "scrod."

Brian on October 19, 2005 06:11 PM.

Here's another I heard recently -- ship's catch remaining on board. Or whatever they didn't sell, it goes for cheap.

George Tirebiter on October 23, 2005 01:46 PM.

Anyone remember the Legal Seafoods T-shirt with the trademark fish and the legend "I got scrod at Legal Seafoods"? My brother in upstate NY got some very strange looks when wearing it.

JR on November 3, 2005 02:01 PM.

OK, I don'y know HOW FAR BACK some of you go BUT...
"special catch" is getting close. WAY back when, Scrod or Schrod was the "best price" dinner fish that day's sale at the pier so it depends is the best answer.

Remember too that during that time fish like pollock was chopped up for bait in the traps. So... scrod could be cod (and commonly was) but it might be also be haddock and was generally one of those two "back in the day" when they were both common catch.

StevieRoy on November 26, 2005 09:14 PM.

I heard it was what the fisherman couldn't sell, and so ate themselves. "SCRaps eaten On Deck"

Larry on December 24, 2005 06:43 PM.

The word scrod invites derision in many varieties. In the South we have our own names for unspecified protein dishes, such as possum belly, squirrel chitlin's, and hog jaw. Students of language will play with a hall of mirrors which lead to the "screwed" version.

The way I enjoyed it was when two old ladies asked the taxi driver where they "might" get scrod. This led to a statement by the language-maven taxi driver with several college degrees stating that he had heard the question a thousand times in a hundred different ways but never in the pluperfect subjunctive.

Terry on January 1, 2006 07:42 PM.

Actually, the cod scrod or the scrod haddock that I get is cheaper than the large version. The large version also comes with skin on it. So, I'm not sure it was to charge more for it.

Scrod? Not tonight dear, I have a haddock.

Mark on January 18, 2006 11:38 AM.

hahhaha that was funny mark lol i was tryin to really figure out what scrod was and i saw pictures of it kinda looked little different than cod kinda smaller... a girl asked that and i work seafood... i had no idea...

lora on August 5, 2006 06:56 PM.

The way my father used to tell the joke was --

Girl says to her friend, "Oh, I've got the most wonderful new boyfriend. He takes me up to Boston to get scrod."

Her friend says, "Dearie, you don't need to go to Boston to get scrod."

TLP on May 9, 2007 09:35 PM.

SCHROD NE fisherman usually are not day boaters, and are on the seas fro days at a time. Various species of catch are piled on on another...
therefore the freshest on top....It could be
cod or it could be haddock Thus the term SCHROD was born. The freshest of the Catch

carole on May 22, 2007 01:51 PM.

If you believe all the Duck too-ah drivahs and the guy at Legal's with the wicked thick accent, it's Special Catch, Right Off the Dock.

Matt on June 1, 2007 09:20 AM.

I wouldn't put much faith in tour-bus drivers. They'll also tell you the Castle in Park Square was built by Beacon Hill Brahmins as a hideout from the Irish-rabble rebellion they expected. Also not true (it was built as a National Guard armory).

Adam Gaffin on June 1, 2007 10:01 AM.

those of you that are correcting the grammatically incorrrect are assuming these people can spell!!!!!!

zman on January 2, 2008 07:19 PM.

just a word-geek note for yahs: acronym etymologies are Almost Never True. my favorite etymology website (sadly, it hasn't updated in over a year) has an entry for scrod at http://www.takeourword.com/TOW128/page2.html

Marinda on March 4, 2008 12:33 AM.

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