Mackerel snapper topic Mackerel snapper  was once a sectarian slur for Roman Catholics , originating in the United States in the 1850s. It referred to the Catholic discipline of Friday abstinence from red meat and poultry, for which fish was substituted.
Follow @TIMECulture. Admit it: you were pronouncing the word âSmaugâ â the name of the Hobbit dragon, the one whoâs in the subtitle of the upcoming movie installation â as âsmog.â.
(In later editions of The Hobbit and in LOTR, Gollum also uses that term to describe the Ring.) LOTR explains that his given name is âSmÃ©agolâ (Old English âburrowing, worming inâ) which is in turn meant to be Tolkienâs âtranslationâ of âTrahaldâ.