KFC Australia forced to swap lettuce for cabbage

[5jj]

KFC Australia forced to swap lettuce for cabbage.​

That's a headline in today's Guardian.

I took that to mean that KFC were using lettuce instead of cabbage. In fact, it's the other way round. What would other members have taken it to mean?

 

[tedmc]

It's usually "swap old for new", so the headline is correct - they are using cabbage as a substitute for lettuce.

 

[Tdol]

I would have taken it the other way round, but can see the issue, now you have pointed it out.

 

[5jj]

It's usually "swap old for new"

Yes, ted. However that particularl headline struck me as odd, so I wondered whether others had a similar feeling.

 

[Skrej]

Yeah, for a brief moment, I thought it meant using lettuce in place of cabbage, which I found odd, because you'd expect them to be using lettuce in the first place. Then I realized it must mean replacing lettuce with cabbage.

Which incidentally, I generally do anyway at home. Red cabbage is crunchier and visually more appealing than bland iceberg lettuce. Plus lettuce seems to go bad much, much quicker than cabbage, which seems to last an eternity in the fridge. I've never had a head of cabbage go bad before I can get it all consumed, but I used to waste a lot of lettuce that way, to the point I quit buying it. Cabbage also has a lot more fiber, vitamins, and minerals than lettuce as well, but I mainly prefer the extra crunch.

 

[jutfrank]

The knowledge that burgers typically contain lettuce and not cabbage was so dominant in my mind that the other interpretation didn't even cross my mind. In fact, I'm still surprised that anyone would think they've replaced cabbage with lettuce.

 

[5jj]

, I'm still surprised that anyone would think they've replaced cabbage with lettuce.

Apart from me, one native speaker though that initially,and one thought it was possible.

 

[emsr2d2]

Apart from me, one native speaker though that initially,and one thought it was possible.

I would have taken it to mean that they were using cabbage and were forced to change it to lettuce. That's the problem with using "swap ... for". Using "replace ... with" is never ambiguous.

 

[probus]

Are we perhaps conflating KFC's frIed chicken with burgers? Although American burgers often feature lettuce, KFC has been accompanied by sides of potato salad, bread and cole slaw for as long as I can remember. But of course things may be different in Australia.

 

[Kontol]

I would have taken it to mean that they were using cabbage and were forced to change it to lettuce. That's the problem with using "swap ... for". Using "replace ... with" is never ambiguous.

Hello, emsr2d2. I see your sentence using "would have", from what I have learnt, when you see "would have" in a sentence it means that the action didn't actually happen, because something else didn't happen first. - If I had received the money, I would have given it to you. (Meaning: I didn't receive the money, so I didn't give it to you.)

But your sentence doesn't have an "if", you only use "would have". Is it the interpretation "I didn't take it to mean that...?"

 

[emsr2d2]

No. There is an implied "If I had seen that sentence," at the start. I didn't see the original. 5jj did. I've only seen it in this thread.

 

[Peedeebee]

I belong to several clubs. One is "Never saw Abba win Eurovision." Another is "Never watched Startrek." And finally, "Never been to KFC." So to me the headline was totally ambiguous. (If Ambiguous can be qualified!) Actually I didn't know KFC did burgers.