Parktown prawn, noun phrase

Origin:
EnglishShow more The name of an elite Johannesburg suburb Parktown + English prawn (probably so called because, with their feelers and overall body shape and size, they supposedly resemble prawns).
colloquial
The king cricket Libanasidus vittatus of the Stenopelmatidae, which grows to a length of seven centimetres; Parkmore prawn.
1984 Fair Lady 30 May 176What about the dreaded Parktown prawn that stalks Jo’burg’s trendy suburbs?
1988 G. Hood in Personality 30 May 23The bantams keep the insect population down, especially the Parktown Prawns.
1988 Style June 99Bill might just..present you with a large, fat, lime-green, carbuncular, ceramic toad...One wonders if it hasn’t been created with the sole function of frightening away Parktown prawns.
1988 Argus 18 Dec.Officially called Libanasidus vittatus, or king cricket, Johannesburgers have dubbed it the ‘Parktown Prawn’ — after the northern parkside neighbourhood which it loves to infest.
1991 You 18 Apr. 112It seems highly unlikely that sweet-and-sour Parktown Prawns and Cockroach Kebab will take over from chops, wors and ribs at the braai.
1991 Sunday Times 23 June (Mag. Sect.) 14There’s nothing worse than..Hysterical Parktown Prawns.
1994 E. Bartlett in Weekly Mail & Guardian 27 Jan. 6The Parktown prawn, or Libanasidus vittatus, is not a mutant cockroach but a cricket.
The king cricket Libanasidus vittatus of the Stenopelmatidae, which grows to a length of seven centimetres; Parkmore prawn.
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