On Feb 29, 10:25*am, dsi1 > wrote:
> On 2/29/2012 7:48 AM, spamtrap1888 wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Feb 29, 8:52 am, > *wrote:
> >> On Wednesday, February 29, 2012 5:22:38 AM UTC-10, spamtrap1888 wrote:
> >>> On Feb 28, 11:43 pm, > *wrote:
> >>>> On 2/28/2012 9:14 PM, spamtrap1888 wrote:
>
> >>>>> The reality is that the "Hawaiian butterfish" your mother made was
> >>>>> neither.
>
> >>>> OK, I'll bite - what was it?
>
> >>> "Hawaiian butterfish" is a fanciful term to describe a dish, like "hot
> >>> dog." The hot dog you eat in Vietnam might not taste like the one your
> >>> mother served, because there you can get real dog.
>
> >> The locals here know what I mean by butterfish, but the term Is meaningless to most people outside of Hawaii. I use the term "Hawaiian butterfish" to distinguish it from it's use in other places. We don't call it "Hawaiian butterfish" ourselves - *that's like the Chinese calling what they eat "Chinese food." My guess is that you might have some problem with taking things too literally.
>
> > Here's a real butterfish:
>
> >http://www.gma.org/fogm/poronotus_triacanthus.htm
>
> > Calling an (Alaskan) sablefish "Hawaiian butterfish" takes one too far
> > from literalness to be useful.
>
> > Here's a good article from Hawaii clearing up the mystery:
>
> >http://www.susanscott.net/OceanWatch2003/feb28-03.html
>
> "Butterfish" by itself is a meaningless term since it could mean any
> number of different fishes, genius. :-)
>

So you realize that your original post's use of "real" in "real
Hawaiian butterfish" was meaningless, because, as you have stated,
people in Hawaii don't call it butterfish, (and, as I have learned,
the fish comes from Alaska, not Hawaii), and butterfish could mean any
number of different fishes:

"My guess is that you won't be able to get real Hawaiian butterfish in
most places - you can substitute salmon, which is also a popular way
of
serving salmon."

Here, salmon at least refers to a finite number of related fishes.

Further, considering that "Hawaiian butterfish" lacks a specific
meaning, escolar sellers are free to adopt it:

"Hawaiian butterfish, aka black cod, aka sablefish, is not escolar
although sometimes it's labeled as such. Escolar is a different fish
altogether and although it's tasty it's also non-digestable."

> Unless you have anything useful to say, my part in this discussion about
> the meaning of words is over.

It was interesting watching you argue yourself out of your original
assertioin.