Talk:Sandwich

Article Checklist for "Sandwich"

Workgroup category or categories	Food Science Workgroup [Categories OK]
Article status	Developing article: beyond a stub, but incomplete
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Checklist last edited by	--Todd Coles 08:04, 31 August 2007 (CDT)

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A major question

That has always preoccupied me: why, at least in British novels, do people go out to the kitchen to "cut sandwiches", whereas in the States they go out to the kitchen to "make sandwiches"? In the days before pre-sliced bread became widely available, did Americans also *cut* sandwiches? Or are Brits just so conversative that they simply refuse to give up a once-serviceable word? Hayford Peirce 15:23, 20 September 2007 (CDT)

I'd imagine it's origin is from to cut off the crusts or to cut the sandwich in half, not to slice the bread. Chris Day (talk) 15:36, 20 September 2007 (CDT)

Hmmm, I gotta say that I never thought of those two possibilities. I can see cuttin' the crusts off watercress sandwiches for the Duchess, yeah, but the crusts on a big thick ham sandwich for the breadwinner on his way to work? Where is Dr. Johnson when we need him? Hayford Peirce 15:58, 20 September 2007 (CDT)

Would you? I would have thought the opposite. How likely is it that people first made the sandwiches, left, then went back into the kitchen to cut them? But, Hayford--why do Americans "do the laundry"...? hee, hee. Aleta Curry 15:55, 20 September 2007 (CDT)

I never before considered the laundry question. What do our British cousins do about this necessary chore? In French, "on fait le linge", "one does the laundry...." Hayford Peirce 16:01, 20 September 2007 (CDT)

Oh, I guess that Brits do the wash, don't they? Hayford Peirce 16:06, 20 September 2007 (CDT)

I hate to contradict all of your stereotypes, but I and my British colleagues have always "made sandwiches" and "done the laundry", although not necessarily in that order. Of course, the traditional British sandwiches have the crusts cut off them, so I think Chris is right on the origin. Howvever, when you consider how appalling English white bread is, and how tasteless and rubbery are the crusts, this is not suprising: with the advent of wholemeal and other edible breads, the crusts are now retained. So we don't need to "cut them"! --Martin Baldwin-Edwards 16:10, 20 September 2007 (CDT)

In Ireland we make sandwiches, do the laundry, or these days, "put on a wash"... ;-) For a good read on the different "Englishes" spanning the Atlantic, I recommend Bill Bryson's "Made in America" - ISBN 0-380-71381-0 Anton Sweeney 17:41, 20 September 2007 (CDT)