I just got back from London. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. But I'm disturbed at the inefficient, ineffectual use of the language there. A prime example is the popular dish the "jacket potato". What the hell does this mean? I asked my friends. Some said it probably referred to the skin still being on the potato. Perhaps. But others surmised it was meant to convey that the potato served as a jacket to the myriad ingredients available to stuff inside. Again, certainly plausible.
But herein lies the problem. We can't really know what it means because it is such a meaningless description. Americans, we get to the point - baked potato. Ahh, now I have additional information that helps further explain the dish. Now I know how this plump potato has been prepared. Alternately we might see "stuffed" or "loaded" as modifiers. Again, these are value added words. Jacket? Hardly!
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