The problem here is the assumption that modifiers can be safely ignored.
In the same way that veggie chicken is, obviously, not chicken, a bowl full of potatoes and mayonnaise is not a salad. It is a potato salad, and the word “potato” is doing too much heavy lifting to omit.
If I asked someone to get me a salad, and they came back with a potato salad, I’d assume they were pranking me.
This is why dictionaries list multiple definitions for words.
Mayonnaise and potatoes are called potato salad? Is that some US thing? Where I am from, a potato salad is sliced cooked potatoes, onions, salt, sunflower oil and some vinegar. Much closer to a salad that than mayonnaise abomination.
Maybe so? I mean, I’m exaggerating a little, but those are the two primary ingredients of most of these non-salad “salads” that I would find in a typical diner or supermarket.
Potato salad, egg salad, macaroni salad, and tuna salad are fundamentally mayonnaise, potato/egg/macaroni/tuna, and spices. Probably some chopped onion and herbs as well. They are often nearly-homogenous glop.
I’m sure there are less offensive ways of making these things, and perhaps I would actually consider some of them “salads”. But yes, the glop I described is commonly called “____ salad”. I don’t think it would be reasonable to call them “salads” with no qualifier. These are compound phrases, and it’s best not to get stuck on the etymology.
You can also call a poorly-written headline “word salad”. And yet if I ordered a salad and got a copy of the New York Post, I would be very confused indeed.
The problem here is the assumption that modifiers can be safely ignored.
In the same way that veggie chicken is, obviously, not chicken, a bowl full of potatoes and mayonnaise is not a salad. It is a potato salad, and the word “potato” is doing too much heavy lifting to omit.
If I asked someone to get me a salad, and they came back with a potato salad, I’d assume they were pranking me.
This is why dictionaries list multiple definitions for words.
Mayonnaise and potatoes are called potato salad? Is that some US thing? Where I am from, a potato salad is sliced cooked potatoes, onions, salt, sunflower oil and some vinegar. Much closer to a salad that than mayonnaise abomination.
I mean, add an egg to that and you have mayo.
France : I’d call cubed potatoes in mayonnaise a salad. A proper potato salad would have sliced pickles and diced ham, but still.
Maybe so? I mean, I’m exaggerating a little, but those are the two primary ingredients of most of these non-salad “salads” that I would find in a typical diner or supermarket.
Potato salad, egg salad, macaroni salad, and tuna salad are fundamentally mayonnaise, potato/egg/macaroni/tuna, and spices. Probably some chopped onion and herbs as well. They are often nearly-homogenous glop.
I’m sure there are less offensive ways of making these things, and perhaps I would actually consider some of them “salads”. But yes, the glop I described is commonly called “____ salad”. I don’t think it would be reasonable to call them “salads” with no qualifier. These are compound phrases, and it’s best not to get stuck on the etymology.
You can also call a poorly-written headline “word salad”. And yet if I ordered a salad and got a copy of the New York Post, I would be very confused indeed.