> More likely is that the average person doesn't know what rancid actually means.
That's tautologically impossible. A word means exactly what most native speakers of the language believe it means.
And "rancid" means "smelling or tasting unpleasant as a result of being old and stale" or "rank in taste or smell" or "having an unpleasant smell or taste usually from chemical change or decomposition."
That's tautologically impossible. A word means exactly what most native speakers of the language believe it means.
And "rancid" means "smelling or tasting unpleasant as a result of being old and stale" or "rank in taste or smell" or "having an unpleasant smell or taste usually from chemical change or decomposition."
https://www.google.com/search?q=define+rancid
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/rancid
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rancid
If "Americans actually prefer the taste," then it isn't "rancid" in American Standard English.