The Blue Crab Glossary defines these terms, all apparently for Atlantic Blue Crabs. Jimmies are males, sooks are mature females, and sallies immature females.
Unfortunately, this site gives no insight into the origin of these terms.
Posts: 2612 | Location: Upper U.S. | Registered: 06-11-02
You'll not be helped much by the dictionary by the look of it. The Oxford English Dictionary gives 'Sook US [origin unknown] A mature female of the blue crab , Callinectes sapidus' Except that 'sook' is also a colloquial Scots (and US) dialect word for a cow it assists no further. So let's speculate. In urban Scots dialect 'Jimmy' is still an informal form of address to any male stranger, just as Jack has been a generic term in England for any man. Sally has been a term for any female, being a very common name once. So perhaps the sexes of blue crabs owe their names to Scots influence ( even to the sook being a mother,just as a cow is ??? !)
