I recall many times ordering a plain cheeseburger for my son at McDonald's and receiving bun and meat and asking where the cheese was and te response was always you said "plain" and then I would explain that if I did not want cheese I would have ordered a hamburger not a cheeseburger. This occurred mutiple times until, thankfully, my son grew tired of McDonald's.
Originally Posted by
mr_edward_p
This is a guy who has been ordering plain burgers for about 30 years. Mostly in the midwest and east coast, but I have eaten burgers from Tokyo to Moscow.
Depends on the burger. So for me, plain excludes anything that doesn't change the base definition of the burger you are ordering. In other words, if it isn't in the name, don't put it on the burger.
If I order a hamburger at McDonald's, plain should mean bun + meat. If I order a plain cheeseburger, then you get bun + meat + cheese. To get a cheeseburger without cheese is a hamburger and therefore upsets the definition of the item.
If you go to TGI Fridays and order a bacon cheeseburger, plain should be bun + meat + cheese + bacon. After all, if I didn't want the bacon or the cheese, I could get a regular hamburger or cheeseburger.
I often have ordered a plain burger and received everything but that appears to be a mistake rather than a misunderstanding of the definition of plain. I once ordered a plain burger in Budapest (in Hungarian) and received two pieces of bread and a cheese. That was puzzling. However, when ordering in the United States or Canada, I have never ordered a plain burger where the person took plain to mean anything but bun + meat + cheese.