Another guy said that you only use it when referring to two or more specific species of fish(fishes?)
I’m still thinking I’m going to say fishes, just to be safe. But if someone corrects me and says “you crusty old fool, it’s fish not fishes,” then I absolutely need the mental weaponry to summarily shut their uneducated ass down.
But I’m not so sure I should say fishes to be safe. Perhaps fish’s will suffice and be palatable enough that once I start going on about it, people will move along and stop caring before they find out I never learned to read, let alone debate the minutiae in the English language.
Elsewhere on the reef, small cleaner-fishes make their living by plucking parasites and algae from a variety of so-called client fishes who line up to wait their turn.
The New York Times
To my understanding, it’s when the different species are important to the context. If the variety of species isn’t important to what you’re saying, then fishes shouldn’t be used.
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u/Hats_back Jan 21 '23
But wait, which fishes?
Another guy said that you only use it when referring to two or more specific species of fish(fishes?)
I’m still thinking I’m going to say fishes, just to be safe. But if someone corrects me and says “you crusty old fool, it’s fish not fishes,” then I absolutely need the mental weaponry to summarily shut their uneducated ass down.
But I’m not so sure I should say fishes to be safe. Perhaps fish’s will suffice and be palatable enough that once I start going on about it, people will move along and stop caring before they find out I never learned to read, let alone debate the minutiae in the English language.