I read in a newspaper recently about a man who bought some uncooked prawns, opened the package halfway around the store and decided he needed some more. When he went to buy some more, however, somebody in the store decided he had eaten some of them and hidden the shells. In effect, he was accused of theft.
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The customer took offence at this suggestion, sued the store and gained $52,000 in damages.
The story was reported by journalist Greg Ray.
I could imagine somebody taking a handful of grapes and eating them.
But could you imagine somebody walking around a big store eating raw prawns? What would they do with the heads for a start? OK, I know of some people who eat prawns’ heads, but don’t let me start on that.
But I have to say I have never seen a person walking around a grocery store eating prawns.
The prawns were uncooked. Would that mean they were raw prawns?
About this time I was asked how raw prawns came to be used in expressions that meant something like “I didn’t come down in the last shower” or “pull the other one”.
I am sure we have all heard somebody say something like “don’t come the raw prawn with me”.
It generally is a light-hearted comment that means something like “you’re trying to con me, but I know more than you think”.
But Charles Dickens used the word prawn to refer to what was described as a half-wit: “You never saw such a human prawn, as he looked, in your life.”
My Australian National Dictionary says the word prawn is “chiefly” Australian. The 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary says the term raw prawn is Australian slang.
The first use in writing that the Australian National Dictionary could find came in 1893, when D Healey said in Cornstalk that a person had brawn and muscle but he was a prawn. In 1914 C Mackaness said in Gem of Flat that a person was a gentleman – “a conceited prawn”.
But raw prawn was something a bit green and difficult to swallow. The first use the dictionary could find came in 1940 with a person muttering about a raw prawn. I gather that the context was something like “a raw deal”. Then Rohann Rivett in Behind Bamboo (I met him once when he was on top of a ladder, I handed something to him and he fell off) said raw prawn meant something far-fetched, difficult to swallow, or absurd.
Dictionaries seem to agree that this definition is obscure. Most people like prawns, so why should the word refer to a human of doubtful character?
Rohann Rivett could have described me as a raw prawn when he fell off the ladder, but he used the expression many years earlier, so I was not responsible. Anyway, in my case he used other words, if my memory is anything to go by.
My definition of raw prawn is: “Don’t try to put one over me”. It is said by someone who thinks he didn’t come down in the last shower and who knows when someone is trying to con him.
If you want to accuse somebody of trying to “come the raw prawn” I suggest you do it with a smile on your face.
Otherwise, it might cost you $52,000.
lbword@midcoast.com.au