Dan

>Just to really confuse things, there are fresh-water crawfish (crayfish?) too,

That's what we were saying - that lang's are a SALT version of the FRESH crayfish.

>and in the US midwest they're often called langostinos. (Hey, cajuns aren't the only ones that can bastardize a language. <g>)

That sounds like a Spanish version of the French word - makes sense.
>
>It's one of the few meals where you burn almost as many calories as you consume by the time you've peeled and pried and sucked out the little beasties. But OH SO WORTH IT! ;-)
>
>And for some reason, I'm suddenly in the mood for a good old midwest smelt fry.

Saw some daft programme on telly where Paris Hilton and a girlfriend travel the country with a trailer, doing odd jobs. At one place (rear where there are swamps & 'gators) the people were dumping huge amounts of crayfish? into a big cook pot. Is that a smelt fry?

Terry