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0 pointsmunificent1mo ago0 comments

I'm familiar with "steamer clams", but not "clam steamers".

In "shrimp fried rice", "shrimp" is a noun adjunct [1], which is when you use a noun as an adjective.

The charming ambiguity comes from it being unclear whether "shrimp" is an adjunct noun modifying "fried rice" ("shrimp fried-rice") or modifying the past participle verb "fried" ("shrimp-fried rice").

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun_adjunct

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headline#Headlinese

0 comments

pierrec1mo ago

I thought the charming ambiguity came from "fried" either acting as an adjective or as a verb. These aren't just any shrimp, they're chef shrimp, and they've prepared some delicious fried rice for us. Isn't that incredible? Shrimp fried rice.

munificentOP1mo ago

Right. It's a noun phrase either way. The question is whether it is rice that were fried by shrimp ("shrimp-fried rice") or fried rice containing shrimp ("shrimp fried-rice").

suzzer991mo ago

Yeah, they're usually just called "steamers". I put clam in front of them to disambiguate. But it's always bugged me. They're not steaming anything! They're getting steamed.

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