> > Just for fun. What do you think now, 5 years later?
> >
> > Is cheese a topping on a cheeseburger?
>
> Cheese is a topping on a cheeseburger by definition. "Optional" is not part of the meaning of "topping," at least not in my dialect. The only essential thing for the meaning is that a topping go on top of something. Your head's a topping for your body even if you'd not be you without it. Whip cream placed underneath a slice of cake is not a topping. The cheese on the meat of a cheeseburger is a topping.
>
> Ga"equally intransigent"be

Let's say, arguendo, that anything is a "topping" if it goes "on top" or something.

That still doesn't make the cheese on a cheeseburger a "topping". The cheese doesn't go on top of a cheeseburger, it's *part* of the cheeseburger. You might argue that the cheese in a cheeseburger is a topping on a hamburger, but that's a whole other story.

^v^:)^v^
F"the second slice of cheese might be a topping, though"B