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If you showed a tube of ground meat to some people and asked if it looked like a sausage, most would agree it does without insisting that you check to see if it
by lgessler 8y ago
If you showed a tube of ground meat to some people and asked if it looked like a sausage, most would agree it does without insisting that you check to see if it has salt. While you're right about the word's etymological history[1], there is nothing that prevents words from obtaining new meanings that might seem like they're at odds with their etymological histories. A good example of this: nice[2].
[1]: https://www.etymonline.com/word/sausage https://www.etymonline.com/word/sausage
[2]: https://www.etymonline.com/word/nice https://www.etymonline.com/word/nice
- cup-of-tea 8y agoSo are you actually claiming that ground meat is sausage or that anyone would think it's a sausage upon cooking and tasting it, regardless of how it looks?
- lgessler 8y agoRegardless of how people actually do turn out to use the word sausage, my point is (1) that you could imagine alternate histories in which any combination of those meanings could be attached to the word "sausage" (2) there is no principled way to insist that one of these combinations is the "correct" one.
- cup-of-tea 8y agoNo, I can't imagine any other version of history because salt is the entire point of sausage. Prior to refrigeration it was the only way to preserve meat. Grinding meat might have been done if it was to be eaten immediately but otherwise it would be a waste.
- kungtotte 8y agoSmoking was a way to preserve meat other than salting it that existed long before refrigeration.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- dshkbxzu 8y agoThey specifically say tube. That the shape makes it a sausage, not the salt content.
- cup-of-tea 8y agoNo it doesn't. You might think it does but you've never made a sausage. The tube shape comes from the natural casing used. But you can make sausage into any shape you want and it's still sausage.
- philwelch 8y agoI don't know anybody who would call this a sausage: https://www.costcobusinessdelivery.com/Kirkland-Signature-Lean-Ground-Beef-Hamburger-Chubs%2C-1-lb%2C-5-ct.product.10182015.html https://www.costcobusinessdelivery.com/Kirkland-Signature-Le...
- dshkbxzu 8y agoYeah, because it doesn't look like a sausage. The shape of it being a tube of meat is what people call a sausage. The poster youre replying to doesn't say "ground beef" = " sausage" so I don't see your point.
- philwelch 8y agoBut this ground beef literally comes in tubes. Look at the second picture.
- foobarchu 8y agoConversely, that tube of meat wouldn't become a sausage simply because you put salt on it. There's obviously a lot of nuance involved.
- lgessler 8y agoWould anybody call it a sausage if there were salt in it? I'm inclined to say no. Obviously there's a lot more that goes into sausage-ness than being a tube of meat.