A most unusual question from the old Dick Cavett Show

Self | 10/2/'08 | Zionist Conspirator

[ArrogantBustard]

Read up on the “hagfish” ... which may or may not be a fish ... is certainly not an eel even though sometimes called one ... and is thoroughly disgusting.

[Cyber Liberty]

An eel once bit my sister. Mind you, eel bites can be very painful.

[ArrogantBustard]

All your hagfish are belong to us.

[Zionist Conspirator]

“Pullulate” ... in this context, means to swarm in large numbers.

Ah-HA!! Now I see everything! An anti-eel agenda is being advanced by the columnist who, instead of merely saying they swarmed in great numbers, used the unfamiliar word "pollulating" to imply they were engaged in some monstrously immoral activity!

This is scandalous!

[Zionist Conspirator]

An eel once bit my sister. Mind you, eel bites can be very painful.

I've never heard of being bitten by an ordinary pond fish of any kind before, though catfish spines are of course poisonous and a wound from one of them is very painful.

Truth to tell, I've never even thought of fish (other than sharks and piranhas) having teeth at all.

[savedbygrace]

That is obviously European literature, and not American literature, the former being so vastly superior to the American.

</SARCASM>

[ArrogantBustard]

It’s worse ... he’s trying to blame the disgusting activities of the slimy hagfish on honest, innocent, unsuspecting eels.

[ArrogantBustard]

I think almost all fish have teeth ... though in the case of the North American freshwater fish we know and love (sunfish, bass, trout) they tend to be small-to-microscopic. Pike and such have bigger teeth and can deliver a nasty bite.

[Zionist Conspirator]

“Anguilla australis.” The short finned eel, common in the Elbe River, in Germany.

Hmm. According to what I'm finding this is a New Zealand eel, and it is being farmed in an attempt to conserve it (as well as for food perhaps?). Certainly no "eerie dreadfulness" involved here.

[downtownconservative]

According to wikadedia, it is native to thge Elbe River, hence its name astralis (as in Austria).

[Zionist Conspirator]

It’s worse ... he’s trying to blame the disgusting activities of the slimy hagfish on honest, innocent, unsuspecting eels.

So instead of being called the "eels passage" it should really be called the "hagfish passage," right? I shall look into this more deeply.

If what I now suspect proves correct, I shall file a complaint with Acting President Obama and the World Court against numerous persons for the crime of "anti-eel statements." Just see if I won't!

[Zionist Conspirator]

According to wikadedia, it is native to thge Elbe River, hence its name astralis (as in Austria).

Your earlier post spelled it "australis," as in Australia.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

....instead of merely saying they swarmed in great numbers, used the unfamiliar word "pollulating" to imply they were engaged in some monstrously immoral activity!

A clear violation of the rules from "The Elements of Style";
Never use a dollar and fifty cent word when there's a good old ten center handy.

[downtownconservative]

Take the “alia” off and add “ria” and the same prefix, “aust” spells both words.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

IRRC the horses were killed in the battle of Jutland and were washing up on shore.

[downtownconservative]

I’ll have to try again, as you are rigfht about this eel originating down under. My search engine failed me as I should have followed it up by going to Wikapedia. Sorry about that

[ThomasThomas]

Should the title of this thread contain a “Barf alert”?

[downtownconservative]

http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/ae991b/AE991B08.htm

Web site refering to German Eels, called silver eels. Genus: Anguilla anguilla L. This could be the one.

[Zionist Conspirator]

IRRC the horses were killed in the battle of Jutland and were washing up on shore.

The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle fought in 1916, and I think the book is about World War II. But I can't find it online. I'll have to work up the courage to check it out of a library.

[Zionist Conspirator]

I have looked up "hagfish," and while they exude slime and eat carrion (and thus are disgusting enough to be the cause of stomach discomfort), they do not otherwise seem to be offensive. I have watched a video of a young man worrying one relentlessly in order to show the slime and he didn't seem to be the least afraid of a bite or anything.

So perhaps the "eels" in the book are "slime eels" (which aren't really eels), but I can't shake the idea that Grass meant regular eels (Anguilla anguilla), else he would probably have described them as "slime eels" and not mentioned them along with other food fish like sardines (besides, are there really such a quantity of hagfish in Europe?). Perhaps dead horses would attract a great variety of fish of many varieties, and in this case it would certainly be possible that regular, inoffensive eels could congregate (or pollulate) within such a delicacy.

Still, as my dream brought back to me last night, that one episode of the Dick Cavett Show seems to have planted deep within me a suspicion of eels which I would dearly love to be able to lay to rest for once and all.

Thanks to all who have responded, and my forgiveness if this thread has been offensive!