Non-Pescatarian

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Jeremy from San Diego.

Hi, Jeremy from San Diego.

Hey.

How are you doing today?

Good, thanks for taking my call.

Oh, yeah, thanks for calling.

What can we do for you?

Well, I’m looking for a word that would describe somebody who does not eat fish specifically.

So it wouldn’t matter whether they eat meat or not,

But it would describe somebody who just has an aversion or just doesn’t eat fish.

And, Jeremy, why do you need this word?

Are you throwing a dinner party or what?

No, it’s actually sort of a long-winded explanation.

Oh, good.

But it has to do with, I guess it’s sort of an inside joke for a music ensemble.

I’m a double bass player.

I play in a symphony orchestra.

And I like playing chamber music on the side.

And there are many pieces of chamber music written with bass,

But there’s only one that most people know, most presenters and most audiences.

It’s a great piece by Franz Schubert called the Trout Quintet.

And there’s a movement of variations in it based on a song that Schubert wrote called The Trout.

And so basically any time a bass player gets asked to play chamber music, they ask for the Trout Quintet.

And while it’s a great piece, you know, we’d love to play other ones as well.

So I’m starting an ensemble and we’re just joking around for what would be a great name for a group that plays anything but the Trout Quintet.

I was going to say, I didn’t know where you were going, Jeremy.

I’m like, he said it was long-winded.

This is the house of long-windedness.

But in the house of long-windedness, you have like your whole wing.

You have like an entire branch of the building, dude.

And I thought it was going to end with the line, but you can’t tune a fish.

Oh, well, yeah, if you call it a double bass.

Right, a double bass, right.

Yeah, I hadn’t even thought of that connection.

Oh, sorry I brought it up.

Oh, oldies but goodies.

So you need a word for this because you just want a way to describe it.

You’re the kind of musicians that won’t play this particular bit of music, right?

Yeah.

What’s it called?

The Trout what?

The Trout Quintet.

Yeah, the Trout Quintet.

Right.

This is like being in a steel pan band and refusing to play Hot, Hot, Hot, right?

Basically, yeah.

So the best I’ve come up with is I’ve heard people who are vegetarians who also eat fish

Sometimes call themselves pescatarians.

Yeah.

And so I was thinking of the non-pescatarian ensemble.

I love it.

I wasn’t sure if there was another word that didn’t have to require a prefix.

I think you just need a logo, and you need like a trout-free logo.

Something that looks official, like a government stamp.

Exactly, the fish with the line through it.

Yeah, a circle with a slash.

I love it.

There aren’t many words for this.

In my house, we call them my wife because she doesn’t eat fish.

Yeah, so I have seen non-pescatarian.

It’s from the Latin root that also gives us the astrological sign, Pisces.

Yeah, it’s related to pesky, right?

No.

No.

No, so non-pescatea.

I love that.

Yeah, yeah.

That actually has been used elsewhere.

I haven’t seen it yet.

I just figured it probably would make sense.

Well, I’m Googling this like, Matt, and there are a few words that people have tried that

None of them stuck.

Anti-merino-vor.

And boring.

Yeah.

And Martha, you have the pronunciation down on this one.

The…

I bet you’re going to say ichthyophagist.

Well, and…

Oh, and ichthyophagist.

You’ve got to put the negative prefix on it, right?

I see.

An ixthiophagist.

An ixthiophagist is someone who eats fish, so an anicthiophagist is someone who doesn’t.

Yeah, those get pretty complicated.

Yeah.

But they’re fun to say.

They are fun to say, but I love the non-pescatarian, what is it?

Ensemble?

Ensemble, I guess.

So what do you play?

Do you have a substitute if they suggest the trout quintet?

What do you suggest in return?

Oh, there’s hundreds of other pieces that we could suggest.

It’s one of those sort of circular things.

Once somebody hears it, that’s the only piece they know, and then that’s the only piece that gets asked.

That’s like covers of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five.

It’s like, man, just stop it, people.

I don’t need to hear that song again.

Exactly.

I mean, I have nothing against the actual piece by Schubert.

It’s great.

But, yeah, variety is a good thing.

Yeah, I agree.

Yeah, in diet and musical diets.

Exactly.

I love non-pescatarian.

You know what?

If you guys come up with a logo for this, I want to see the next flyer.

I do, too.

Drop us a line with the email and we’ll share it with everybody to see what kind of goofiness you come up with, all right?

Okay.

Great.

Well, thanks so much.

Best of luck.

It sounds like you lead an exciting life.

Can’t wait to hear it.

Okay.

Thank you.

Bye, Jeremy.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

In the large, Jeremy’s problem is another workplace issue, right?

I guess it is.

Yeah, language in the workplace is kind of sticky.

It is sticky.

If you want to unsticky that mess, give us a call, 877-929-9673, or send the stickiness to words@waywordradio.org.