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 The Hobbit, Thorin and twelve other Dwarves visited Bilbo Baggins on Gandalf 's advice to hire Bilbo as a burglar to steal their treasure back from the dragon Smaug. Smaug had attacked Erebor (the Lonely Mountain) about 150 years before, and had taken both the dwarves' mountain and their treasure.