Giant squid being targeted by San Diego fleet (http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=T&ct=us/3-0&fd=R&url=http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/sports/columns/article_1538500.php&cid=0&ei=hcakRem2FbTIHP-P6ecM)
OCRegister, CA - 20 hours ago
Saturday, they began biting off San Diego, prompting several landings there to begin scheduling twilight squid trips. Reports of giant squid in the area ...


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Is this a new thing that Humbolts are referred to as "giant squid"? I've been seeing a lot of this over the past year and don't remember it prior.

Yessir, Tony. Previously, they were always referred to as "jumbo squid" or "Humboldt squid" and once in a blue moon as dosidicus gigas. I believe, that as the amount of giant squid-related programing on Discovery, Discovery/Science, and other cable networks has grown, our old friend Archie's popular name has entered the mindframe of mainstream journalists in general for the first time since the 1870s. Journalists, being what they must be to make sure their story gets into print, are referring to these giant squid as "giant squid" without doing too much research on teuthids. Now that everybody with cable accepts the existence of giant squid - as opposed to when I was a child and later a teenager, when I'd describe architeuthis and be accused of lying by teachers and parents of friends of mine (morons) - what do you expect in an attempt to grab easy headlines? "Wow! It's over six feet long and unbelievably voracious! Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and see the fabled Giant Squid!!!"

Quack!

Well I emailed the author.

Right! Jumbo squid. That is a term I haven't heard in a while.