Slaw Abiding

They've started advertising "slaw" in our work canteen. I had some the other day. Delicious slaw.

They've always had coleslaw, of course. That's old hat. That's par for the slawcourse. But simple slaw is a whole different animal.

It seems dryer.

Is slaw just an abbreviation? If so, I won't abide it. If you're going to abbreviate something, you should start at the beginning of the word. It's why I hate the abbreviation "baccy" for tobacco. I much prefer toby.

I suppose you couldn't really shorten coleslaw to "cole". Cole isn't appetising, no matter how it's spelled. Even Helmut Kohl. I wouldn't eat him if you paid me.

But I choose to believe that slaw isn't an abbreviation. there's no apostrophe for one thing. And if the sign-makers in our cafeteria are known for one thing, it's proper punctuation.

If we turn to the Online Etymology Dictionary, which is the first Google result for "coleslaw etymology" (and so must be the most trustworthy), we see that the word is a compound. It comes from the Dutch koolsla. "Kool" is cabbage. "Sla" is salad.

This tells us two important things.

Firstly, the band Kool & the Gang were formed on an allotment ("Gang" is Danish for carrots).

Secondly, "slaw" is not an abbreviation of coleslaw. It's just a term for general salad. Perhaps the canteen people couldn't come up with a specific name for their dry coleslaw, so decided to go vague. The dish has no name. It's just salad. It's just slaw.

No-one can complain if you stay general. They should have called it "food" or "matter". I'd love a bowl of delicious matter.

I'm a big fan of salad bar salad, which is why I've taken such a strong interest in this issue. I've written about it at length. Slaw is a big change. It's like having a new step dad. You want him to love you, but you feel guilty because you miss your old spicy orzo or whatever.

But education can allay any fear. I now know all about slaw. I know what it is, and I know what it was. And I know why there's no apostrophe.

From now on, I won't be eating salad bar salad.

I'll be eating slaw bar slaw.

I also know that slaw doesn't have anything to do with Gozer, no matter what Rick Moranis may try to tell me.



He does make me ponder the last of the Meketrex Supplicants though.

Daniel Day-Lewis was great in that film.