Masses/mass
Hello,
Marine lobstermen can safely remove the much smaller numbers of lobsters found in their pots with bare hands, seizing them from the rear. Chesapeake crabbers cannot do this……There are too many crabs in each pot in any case for such individual seizure. You simply plunge in with both hands and separate the tangling masses as best you can, suffering an occasional bite from a big Jimmy that will make even the most hardened crabber wince.
William Warner, Beautiful Swimmers: Waterman, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay
Why is "mass" plural here? When you pull up a pot, is there supposed to be a single mass of crabs in the pot?
I orginally asked the question here
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/tangling-masses.3642320/, however I have to admit I still do not get it.
Top answer
Your link didn't work. Crabs get stuck together when they are in close quarters. Their legs hook onto each other and snag on the other crabs' shells, and they clamp down on each other with their claws.
- Your link didn't work.
- Crabs get stuck together when they are in close quarters.
- Their legs hook onto each other and snag on the other crabs' shells, and they clamp down on each other with their claws.
- I imagine that when you try to pull crabs out of a pot, several crabs come away in a mass, leaving other crabs in the pot.
- That's at least two masses right there.
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Your link didn't work.
Crabs get stuck together when they are in close quarters. Their legs hook onto each other and snag on the other crabs' shells, and they clamp down on each other with their claws. I imagine that when you try to pull crabs out of a pot, several crabs come away in a mass, leaving other crabs in the pot. That's at least two masses right there.
It could also be th
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