Recent measurements define the prompt fission neutron spectrum of 252Cf from 25 keV to 20 MeV with sufficient accuracy to show that the standard representation by a Maxwell spectrum with the temperature parameter TM = 1.42 MeV is not adequate. The next simplest macroscopic representation, a Watt spectrum with the two parameters Tw = 1.18 MeV and Ew = 0.36 MeV, fits the recent data surprisingly well, at least as well as the best currently available microscopic models of fission neutron emission. The resulting chi-square does not indicate any need for a more sophisticated description, nor is the fit improved by refinements such as superposition of two Watt distributions (for a representative fragment pair), or relativistic corrections.