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.
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.