I definitely agree, but grandfathering in this specific exception suggests a definition variant: a salad can be mixed and shuffled (possibly from an ordered initial state), and in this case it remains a salad; it isn't damaged, and on the contrary it usually improves (typically by increasing the entropy of solid component positions and distributing liquid condiments more uniformly).
I think you've nailed it here. I had a really good wedge salad last night. The advantage of a wedge salad is that the blue cheese stays on top evenly distributed. On many salads it'd drop to the bottom and be less evenly distributed. The untossed salad is more evenly mixed than the tossed one, and both would be improved by more entropy.
Part of the appeal of the wedge salad is the crispiness of the lettuce. So if you improve it with more thorough mixing, you'd have to consume it immediately before the crisp is lost. I don't think this is incompatible, just a nuance.
This becomes more obvious with a layered salad -- layered salads seem designed to keep ingredients separate in the presentation container, but get mixed together in the transition to the plate or dipper.
- I'm of the perhaps controversial opinion that a potato salad is not a salad, particularly a warm one.
- A wedge salad is right on the edge. It's a traditional salad except that the lettuce leaves are not separated. But if it was anything else in that form factor, like replacing the lettuce wedge with a potato, that's not a salad.
The meaning of a word doesn't care what your opinion is. Enough people believe a potato salad is a salad that it has to be contained within one of the definitions for salad.
I'm absolutely horrified by the way kids use "literally", but that definition has achieved critical mass and must be included in the dictionary.
The insistence on a single definition is where the silliness of the original article comes into play. There are obviously multiple definitions of salad; you don't have to accept all of them.
Yes and I agree with the dictionary quotes from the article. It seems to me that there are indeed multiple distinct meanings to the word "salad". I'd say that a potato salad is a different class of food from a green salad.
If one attempts to have a single definition stretched over all the meanings, then you indeed get a definition that is way too broad that includes soups and sandwiches, which is ludicrous. But it's quite common for a single word to have multiple senses, let's just go with that.
Comments
I really love this, it’s what I want to see in HN. But I can’t resist joining the pointless debate:
- A primarily cooked dish, particularly if it is cooked all together or is served warm, is definitely not a salad.
- An “untossed salad” is definitely not a salad.
- English speaking people add the term “salad” to a bunch of concoctions that are definitely not salads.
I think you've nailed it here. I had a really good wedge salad last night. The advantage of a wedge salad is that the blue cheese stays on top evenly distributed. On many salads it'd drop to the bottom and be less evenly distributed. The untossed salad is more evenly mixed than the tossed one, and both would be improved by more entropy.
Part of the appeal of the wedge salad is the crispiness of the lettuce. So if you improve it with more thorough mixing, you'd have to consume it immediately before the crisp is lost. I don't think this is incompatible, just a nuance.
This becomes more obvious with a layered salad -- layered salads seem designed to keep ingredients separate in the presentation container, but get mixed together in the transition to the plate or dipper.
- warm potato salads are better than cold ones.
- few things are better than a blue cheese wedge salad.
- I'm of the perhaps controversial opinion that a potato salad is not a salad, particularly a warm one.
- A wedge salad is right on the edge. It's a traditional salad except that the lettuce leaves are not separated. But if it was anything else in that form factor, like replacing the lettuce wedge with a potato, that's not a salad.
The meaning of a word doesn't care what your opinion is. Enough people believe a potato salad is a salad that it has to be contained within one of the definitions for salad.
I'm absolutely horrified by the way kids use "literally", but that definition has achieved critical mass and must be included in the dictionary.
The insistence on a single definition is where the silliness of the original article comes into play. There are obviously multiple definitions of salad; you don't have to accept all of them.
Yes and I agree with the dictionary quotes from the article. It seems to me that there are indeed multiple distinct meanings to the word "salad". I'd say that a potato salad is a different class of food from a green salad.
If one attempts to have a single definition stretched over all the meanings, then you indeed get a definition that is way too broad that includes soups and sandwiches, which is ludicrous. But it's quite common for a single word to have multiple senses, let's just go with that.