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For example, you may say "No pickles" on a burger order but if a pickle must strictly mean an intact pickled cucumber, then you could never ask for "No pickles" as no common burger has multiple whole pickled cucumbers to begin with. I think it's fair to say that interpreting it this way would be against the grain.

For context: This comes from an argument about whether or not a bag of 9 pickle slices could be said to contain "9 pickles." The conversation is informal and the bag is small and has a picture of pickle slices on it. I am arguing that "pickle" can be shorthand to refer to a slice of a pickle, given the context of knowing there are slices involved and not a whole pickled cucumber. To give something more succinct to answer, I would also accept an answer to whether or not I am correct in this argument.

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    Ah, but would you argue that a pack of 9 turkey slices contains 9 turkeys?
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Feb 26, 2019 at 17:01
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    Was Peter Piper involved at all?
    – Skooba
    Commented Feb 26, 2019 at 17:18
  • @Weather Vane No this is specific to pickles. I grew up around the use of the term pickle to refer to a slice of pickle in the context that no whole pickles are involved. I guess what I am trying to get at is not necessarily whether it is strictly correct, but whether it is not only understood but appropriate given the context and setting of the conversation.
    – Robert Talada
    Commented Feb 26, 2019 at 17:33
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    From the first part I suppose so. If I ask for "no onion" or "no onions" I would not expect onion in the food, whether whole, chopped, or sliced.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Feb 26, 2019 at 17:35
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    @RobertTalada WeatherVane's point is that if you ordered 10 X's, you'd be upset if all you got were 10 slices of X. A pickle slice is made of pickle but is not a whole pickle. In your argument about 'no pickle', you'd be upset if there was any pickle, whole or sliced involved
    – Mitch
    Commented Feb 26, 2019 at 17:40

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I believe you are incorrect.

In the first paragraph you correctly surmise that "no pickle" refers to any amount of pickle, but the food in a package is quite different.

Suppose you place an order for "a box of 9 turkeys" and are given a pack of 9 turkey slices, you would rightly feel cheated.

It's a different matter if you are looking at a particular pack of pickles and refer to one slice as "a pickle" because there is no possibility for confusion, especially as pickles are not always whole. If I ask for a "pickle tray" in a restaurant they certainly won't be whole but are referred to as "pickles".

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