scrod

noun

1. a young Atlantic codfish or haddock, especially one split for cooking.

noun

1. US a young cod or haddock, esp one split and prepared for cooking

n.1841, “young cod, split and fried or boiled,” possibly from Dutch schrood “piece cut off,” from Middle Dutch scrode “shred” (cf. Old English screade “piece cut off;” see shred (n.)). If this is the origin, the notion is probably of fish cut into pieces for drying or cooking. A Boston brahmin is on a business trip to Philadelphia. In search of dinner, and hungry for that Boston favorite, broiled scrod, he hops into a cab and asks the driver, “My good man, take me someplace where I can get scrod.” The cabbie replies, “Pal, that’s the first time I’ve ever been asked that in the passive pluperfect subjunctive.” [an old joke in Philadelphia, this version of it from “Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch,” Constance Hale, 2012]