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サンプルが腐った色のレストラン (from a 川柳)

I'm confused by the の and how to parse this sentence.

The most straight-forward parse doesn't sit well with me.

  • サンプルが腐った色 : The color of rotten sample. (サンプル is the subject of 腐った)
  • 〇〇色のレストラン: Restaurant with color 〇〇 (eg: 黄色のレストラン yellow restaurant)

But then it would mean "Restaurant with color of rotten sample." That seems a bit backward, I would expect the meaning to be "Restaurant whose samples have rotten color". Do I miss anything ? How do we parse that sentence and what does it mean?

Maybe this の is a sort of copula and we can do something like サンプルが黄色のレストラン or something?

Arzar
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  • Related (see 表紙が緑色の本): https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/92740/5010 – naruto Nov 29 '22 at 16:01
  • Thanks. But I have the same parsing issue when reordering the sentence as レストランはサンプルが腐った色だ。The restaurant is a color of rotten sample ? Could it be that サンプルが is not the subject of 腐った and it's a レストランは(topic) [(サンプル）が(腐った色)だ] !? – Arzar Nov 29 '22 at 16:21
  • Close. "The restaurant has rotten(-colored) (food) samples". Food models of an old restaurant often have very unappetizing appearances... – naruto Nov 29 '22 at 16:26
  • Sorry, I think I edited after you commented, so I repeat just in case: Could it be that サンプルが is not the subject of 腐った and it's レストランは(topic) [(サンプル）が(腐った色)だ] ? – Arzar Nov 29 '22 at 16:29
  • レストラン is the topic, サンプル is the subject, and 腐った色 is the predicate (no-adjective) and refers to a dirty color of a rotten food. (腐った is a mini relative clause that modifies 色, but please think of 腐った色 as a set for now.) – naruto Nov 29 '22 at 16:31
  • I got it now, thanks! The "nounがverb" (サンプルが腐った色) really tricked me because it seems so natural to parse it as "sample rotted" that I couldn't imagine "腐った色" as a mini relative clause. It's perfectly clear, thanks! – Arzar Nov 29 '22 at 16:40
  • Yes, I think we can mark it as a duplicate. – Arzar Nov 29 '22 at 16:56

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