Word To Use Today: maskanonge.

You say this word MA-sker-LONJ, and, yes, it does look a bit funny. If it wasn't for the k it might be French, and if it wasn't for the pronunciation it might be central African.

And though it might be, it isn't. Well, not recently, anyway.

This is a maskanonge: 

Photo by Engbretson, Eric / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3720748

Luckily for France and Central Africa, perhaps, it lives in the northern parts of North America. It can grow up to 1.8 metres long and weigh up to 32 kg. I's an ambush feeder which can take prey - usually other fish, but it won't say no to the odd frog or musk rat - up to two thirds of its body length.

That makes me quite a bit too big for its supper. Phew! Mind you, I'm rather attached to both my legs, so I won't be swimming in company with one, just in case it fancies a snack.

I read on Wikipedia that a reliable method to distinguish between a maskanonge and a northern pike is to count the sensory pores on the underside of its jaw; but while this may be reliable it is, obviously, far from sensible, unless you've got the thing high and dry and dead.

I like the word maskanonge, but there's no doubt it's difficult, and this is why the thing also goes by the names of muskellunge, muskalunge, muscallonge, milliganong (that's my my favourite), muskie or musky. Or, indeed, by its Latin name Esox masquinongy.

The trouble is that now I'm wondering what Esox are. Footwear made of atmospheric CO2 and fully recyclable, presumably.

Word To Use Today: maskanonge. This word comes from the Ojibwa word maashinoozhe, which means ugly (or some say big)pike. Or perhaps it's Algonquian. Before that, curiously, the word may have come from the French masque allongé, which means long face.