That is a fantastic question. Only thing I can guess is that it’s to distinguish the canned stuff from tuna steak. You have a tuna fish sandwich, but if you’re getting nice stuff at a restaurant, it’s just tuna (or ahi).
Edit: But I am 100% going to start saying beef mammal and chicken bird.
Because you can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish.
It may be the case where some of the earlier cans were labeled “tuna fish”, and just like how brand names when they become popular are used as the name for the product itself (like the word qtip), perhaps “tuna fish” became the same way.
Because in this context, “fish” is not used to talk about the animal, but about the food. “Fish” is not just a biology word to refer to a type of aquatic animal, it is also a culinary term referring to the consumable flesh of these animals. Thus, in that sense and in that context, “fish” is analogous to “beef”, not to “cow”. We say “tuna fish” to specify the kind of fish, exactly like we also say “wagyu beef”, “beluga caviar” or “duck fat”. At this point, it’s an ingredient and no longer an animal.
In the German language we say Thunfisch for tuna fish and Haifisch for shark. The added Fisch/fish is likely because the words “T(h)un” and “H(a)i” are very common words in the language and without the fish context they could be very confusing.
E.g. “Möchtest du was t(h)un?” would be understand as “Do you want to do something?” and not as “Do you want some tuna?”.
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That is a fantastic question. Only thing I can guess is that it’s to distinguish the canned stuff from tuna steak. You have a tuna fish sandwich, but if you’re getting nice stuff at a restaurant, it’s just tuna (or ahi).
Edit: But I am 100% going to start saying beef mammal and chicken bird.
Australians call it tuna. Tuna sandwich, tuna on crackers tuna with spiders eggs, tuna wrap. Maybe it’s just an American thing.
I always assumed it was to distinguish it from the tuna fruit, also known as prickly pear.
Because you can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish.
It may be the case where some of the earlier cans were labeled “tuna fish”, and just like how brand names when they become popular are used as the name for the product itself (like the word qtip), perhaps “tuna fish” became the same way.
I just call it tuna
Because in this context, “fish” is not used to talk about the animal, but about the food. “Fish” is not just a biology word to refer to a type of aquatic animal, it is also a culinary term referring to the consumable flesh of these animals. Thus, in that sense and in that context, “fish” is analogous to “beef”, not to “cow”. We say “tuna fish” to specify the kind of fish, exactly like we also say “wagyu beef”, “beluga caviar” or “duck fat”. At this point, it’s an ingredient and no longer an animal.
Who’s this “we” I never hear anyone say that.. it’s just tuna.
English here, we just say ‘Tuna’ and ‘Beef curtains’
We call it tuna.
Because america?
I dont know if anyone else really does this
It was a marketing gimmick.
They wanted to emphasize that it was from the sea. Can you believe it, folks! In a can! TUNA FISH.
If you get the actual fish, they just call it Tuna!
CHICKEN JOCKEY
We don’t, Americans do (once they’ve finished horseback riding).
Tuna fish is weird to me. Tuna.
people call it tuna fish?
‘We’ don’t. It’s yet another weird American thing.
Might come from people with a German background.
In the German language we say Thunfisch for tuna fish and Haifisch for shark. The added Fisch/fish is likely because the words “T(h)un” and “H(a)i” are very common words in the language and without the fish context they could be very confusing.
E.g. “Möchtest du was t(h)un?” would be understand as “Do you want to do something?” and not as “Do you want some tuna?”.
In India, i heard they called tengna 😂
I am American, NO ONE I know calls it tuna fish, it is tuna.
Only Americans feel the need to confirm they’re talking about fish when they use the word tuna.
Could be that tuna in Spanish is the fruit of the cactus
No one I know says tuna fish.
Older English here. Yes, I remember it would be called tuna fish. Perhaps we weren’t then expected to know immediately what tuna was.
I’m going tomorrow for sword, sun and blob.
Later I’m going to Japan for some sea chicken. And then Finland for tonnikala. And then off to Norway for some tonfisk.
I never say tuna fish
I dont know, but in german its also called Thunfisch 😁
American but I call it ahi or maguro or maybe skipjack
saying “tuna fish” seems like an american thing. it also happens with eye glasses and horseback riding. in australia we drop all of the extra words