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Wicked Good Guide to Boston English /

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!"

re: Scrod

By Lou (not verified) | Fri, 04/09/2004 - 7:18pm

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

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By barb (not verified) | Mon, 05/17/2004 - 9:57am

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

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By Koby (not verified) | Mon, 06/21/2004 - 2:16am

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

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By Han Su Kim (not verified) | Tue, 06/29/2004 - 11:25am

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

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By nelson (not verified) | Mon, 08/02/2004 - 9:41pm

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

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By Mike (not verified) | Tue, 08/31/2004 - 12:24pm

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

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By Thomas Poulakidas (not verified) | Fri, 09/10/2004 - 10:00pm

Scrod is a sohisticated word that has been fabricatd by seafood restaurantsand grocers so they may be able to charge morefor a piece of cod!!!!!!

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By Thomas Poulakidas (not verified) | Sat, 09/11/2004 - 8:24am

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

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By Brian (not verified) | Wed, 10/19/2005 - 5:11pm

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."

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By George Tirebiter (not verified) | Sun, 10/23/2005 - 12:46pm

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

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By JR (not verified) | Thu, 11/03/2005 - 2:01pm

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.

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By StevieRoy (not verified) | Sat, 11/26/2005 - 9:14pm

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.

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By Larry (not verified) | Sat, 12/24/2005 - 6:43pm

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

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By Terry (not verified) | Sun, 01/01/2006 - 7:42pm

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.

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By Mark (not verified) | Wed, 01/18/2006 - 11:38am

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.

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By lora (not verified) | Sat, 08/05/2006 - 5:56pm

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...

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By TLP (not verified) | Wed, 05/09/2007 - 8:35pm

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."

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By carole (not verified) | Tue, 05/22/2007 - 12:51pm

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 becod or it could be haddock Thus the term SCHROD was born. The freshest of the Catch

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By Matt (not verified) | Fri, 06/01/2007 - 8:20am

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.

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By Adam Gaffin (not verified) | Fri, 06/01/2007 - 9:01am

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).

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By zman (not verified) | Wed, 01/02/2008 - 7:19pm

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

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By Marinda (not verified) | Tue, 03/04/2008 - 12:33am

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

re: Scrod

By Steve (not verified) | Fri, 05/16/2008 - 1:41am

See http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scrod and make up your own mind if it is true.

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