Crawdaddies

Why does everyone call crawdads "crayfish" when  they're clearly not a fish at all? We don't call  their pinche cousins lobsters & langistinos—lobsterfish. At least a few crawdads are actually dads. Otherwise there’d be none at all. In Australia they call freshwater crawdaddies (crayfish) "Yabbies" or "Koonac". Mudbugs, ditch bugs. Whatever you call 'em.

My brother Guy used to catch crawdads in Arroyo/Barranca Creek and cook them in a tiny pot until they turned red. Tasted like lobster. Do they still have that big annual Delta crawdad feed in Locke? Went once with my cousins Dave & Sinead. They covered the table with newspaper and dumped platterfulls of 'daddies on the table.

I preferred the crawdads from our clear creeks—no muddy aftertaste. ‘Course the beer takes care of that. How to eat crawdads? Pinch the tails and suck they heads, as they say. Not much meat, but, sweet with butter & lemon. We used to hang red rubber bands from string and the crawdads would latch onto them and we'd slowly ease them out of the water, with them hanging onto their treat. The trick was to have a net ready to catch them as they dropped off. We never had a net, and I was too impatient to lull them to shore, but I still tried to lob them to the bank. God, they could pinch!

I found this: The name "crayfish" does not come from the word "fish", but from the Old French, escrevisse (Modern French écrevisse) meaning "crevice" referring to the habitat of the animal. The word has been modified to "crayfish" by association with "fish". The American variant "crawfish" is similarly derived. (This derivation is an example of folk etymology.)

Aha! It's a Malaprop, or a Mondegreen: escrevisse = crayfish. They have slain the Earl of Morey and laid him on the green (Lady Mondegreen). Mrs. Malaprop bungled aphorisms. Songs take a big hit too.  José can you see, by the dawn's early light. Me, a cowboy, me a Mexican cowboy (mea culpea). 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy.  In a Godda davida!

Don't forget the starfish.  Neither fish, nor star.