Question: I am curious as to the origin of the word "mutt," meaning "a dog of mixed breed."Answer: Tracing "mutt" back to its origins involves many centuries and two additional species, one with four legs and the other with two. We begin with "moton," a word ultimately of Celtic origin (it is related to the Welsh "mollt," meaning "a ram") that was used in Old French to mean "a sheep" and "the flesh of a sheep used for food." Borrowed into Middle English as "motoun" with these senses at about the beginning of the 14th century, the word eventually came to be spelled "mutton." Its "sheep" sense had fallen into disuse in English by the end of the 19th century, but its "food" sense, of course, continues in use today.
The well-known 1970s TV character Archie Bunker of "All in the Family" was known for addressing his hapless son-in-law as "meat-head." The Archie Bunkers of an earlier time in America expressed a similar sentiment with the word "muttonhead," which was first recorded as a slang term in 1803. It wasn't until about a hundred years later that the shortened form "mutt" first appeared, originally with the sense "a stupid or foolish person." Its use in referring to dogs followed soon afterward. It occurs not only as a synonym of "mongrel," of course, but also as a generalized term of abuse for any dog, in which use it can probably be best regarded as the canine equivalent of "meat-head."
Question: Can you settle an argument by explaining exactly what kind of fish "scrod" is and how it got its name?
Answer: "Scrod," also sometimes spelled "schrod," is not the name of a specific fish in the way that "trout" and "yellow-tail snapper" are. As you've discovered yourself, there is some difference of opinion as to what exactly "scrod" refers to and where the word comes from.
If you order scrod in a restaurant or buy it at the fish market, you'll be getting filets of young white-fleshed fish. Most of the people who have offered opinions on this subject say that "scrod" should refer specifically to filets of young cod or haddock. A very few people differentiate between "scrod" and "schrod." Those who do say that "scrod" refers to cod and that "schrod" refers to haddock. Otherwise there is no difference in meaning between the two variant spellings.
It's not unusual to find "scrod" applied to other fish filets as well, such as pollock or cusk. Some aficionados say that this use of "scrod" is a sacrilege, and others say that no true New Englander would be fooled into thinking pollock was cod. Even so, the use of "scrod" to refer to fish other than cod and haddock is not uncommon.
The most likely explanation of the origin of "scrod" is that it comes from the obsolete Danish word "schrood," meaning "to shred." This theory ties in well with the variable meaning of "scrod," since it shows that the name refers to the method of preparation - filleting - rather than to a specific type of fish.
There is, however, one other whimsical - and unsubstantiated - story about the origin of "scrod." The maitre d' of a Boston hotel is said to have wanted always to serve the freshest fish and to be confounded as to how to make up his menus before he knew what the catch of the day would be. Supposedly he coined the name "scrod" as a blanket word to cover all possibilities, using it to mean the best and freshest fish available. This story is not supported by the evidence, but it is frequently told and widely believed.