Wednesday, November 9, 2011

"Salad"

I went down to Whitmore Lake Tavern tonight with my friends Molly and George. Glancing down the menu, I noticed that the word salad was, ominously, in quotation marks. 

Though often used for emphasis rather than grammar in advertising, I can't help but read unnecessary quotation marks as that's what she said or if you know what I mean marks. I read "salads" and asked myself, "what are they really?" On closer reading, I saw that the word fresh was in italics. For emphasis or qualification? 

Molly ordered a "salad." When the waitress brought it to our table, I was put out of doubt as to what the quotations were for. It was definitely a "salad" not a salad: a mound of lettuce topped with an entire chicken breast sliced into strips, piles of cheese, and two halved hard boiled eggs. As for the fresh, Molly didn't say.

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