Huh. I never knew mahi mahi was dolphin fish but when I googled, I recognize the fish.
I don't eat fish or go to fancy enough places to be offered dolphin (lol) but without "fish" attached, I would possibly think "omg people eat dolphins?!" And then Google so no one thought I was an idiot.
American English is fluid, there are innumerous regional differences across the United States. Not being familiar with one is not a sign of stupidity (nor is using one).
This is a few years old now, and doesn't address dolphin-the-fish, but, it really helps paint the picture of just how regionally quirky this language is:
I am still unclear if these menus say "dolphin" or "dolphin fish".
And if the original question was "is it common knowledge that dolphin fish is mahi mahi?"
I’ve seen menus listing both “dolphin” and “dolphin fish”, both referring to the fish otherwise known as mahi mahi.
Yes, I believe that was the original question, and I guess we established that the answer is that it’s more “common knowledge” in the parts of the country where this fish is still referred to as “dolphin”, but can be very confusing for people who people who visit. Then people expressed anger that people who thought it meant actual mammalian dolphin would order it thinking they were eating actual dolphin.
I don’t think it’s “stupid” to refer to fish by this name on a menu. These people have been fishing these waters and referring to fish this way since before it became more popular to use the Hawaiian name.
People also eat "cute" animals all of the time. Rabbits and ducks are animals that are considered cute, so appearance is no reason to expect no one to eat something. Even some people describe cows as cute and it is certainly common to eat beef. In fact, if it is not a predator of any type it is pretty common to find someone who would be willing to eat something.
Whenever I am out to dinner with my father and someone orders the mahi mahi he always says “The name of the fish used to be dolphin but nobody wanted to order dolphins, so they changed it to Mahi Mahi and now everybody orders it!” He says it with a lot of enthusiasm and it seems funny when he says it.
I’ve probably heard him say this 100 times. It doesn’t usually come up with anyone else in conversation though. So, unless you’ve been to dinner with my dad, it might not be commonly known.
Well, dolphins (the mammals) are endangered (thanks to humans), some species are critically endangered and others we've managed to push to extinction. That's a pretty good reason not to eat them.