I'm not complaining on the use of the ampersand, but unlike many people seem to believe, it's not semantically equivalent to "and". Beyond just joining two item

I'm not complaining on the use of the ampersand, but unlike many people seem to believe, it's not semantically equivalent to "and". Beyond just joining two items in a phrase, the ampersand marks an association between them and emphasizes it as a single definite idea, a "thing". Ampersands are often used to mark brands, names and cultural items made up of multiple components: Johnson & Johnson, Dungeons & Dragons, bread & butter, fish & chips, Gold, Smith & Associates. If I say "I had some fish & coleslaw" that would make a few people wonder if this is some popular recipe they should google.