• 1984@lemmy.today
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    Why do people in this thread say sandwich when it’s a burger? I’m not a native English speaker so it’s an honest question.

    • GinAndJuche@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      I chose to use sandwich because not every sandwich in that picture is a burger. Since burger is a type of sandwich in American English, I could have used more specific language for each but that would have required me to use more words and I’m lazy.

      Do you mind if I ask where the line between the two words is in your first language? You don’t have to say what it is if that’s an opsec thing, I’m just curious about the delineation.

      • 1984@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        7 months ago

        Which one of the pictures is a sandwich? They all look like burgers to me. Maybe I need glasses but they do. :)

        In my native language, all of these are just called hamburgers. The word sandwich is just used for typical breakfast sandwiches with ham and cheese and flat bread on the bottom only.

        Of course there is Subway with those larger sandwiches with filling inside, and we call those sandwiches too…

        • GinAndJuche@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          20
          ·
          7 months ago

          All of them are sandwiches. The last two aren’t burgers. The term burger has shifted a bit over the years, but for the most part it still retains the assumption that it is made of beef and circular. A square piece of beef like the chain Wendy’s does is still a burger, but a swuare piece of fish would but be unless somebody has a rather loose take on what’s. Burger is.

          For example, I’m vegan and don’t call grilled tofu slices between circular buns a burger. I would call it a tofu sandwich. If it was a circular piece of grilled tofu, that would be “close enough” to burger.

          Shape, cooking method for the protein, and the “caps” that the buns usually serve as are all factors in how much something fits the ideal of “burger”.

          For example: a grilled, circular patty served in between two small corn tortillas could be called a tortilla burger, but wrap the patty in a single larger tortilla and it’s not a burger. It’s now a wrap.

          Something I should probably add: put damn near anything on a piece of bread it’s an open face sandwich. Put a k the piece on top it’s just a sandwich. Wrap it something it’s a wrap. A grilled patty wrapped in lettuce would be a lettuce wrap. Two chonky pieces of lettuce above and below, and many people would call it a lettuce wrap still but due to the lack of wrapping it would be a sandwich. The use of bread isn’t required for sandwich functionality. Side note: is there a term for the role the buns fill? What do we call the absorbent thing that allows your hands to stay relatively clean while you eating the things placed between them?

          I’m too fucking American, I’ve put more effort into this than anything else I’ve posted today lol.

        • SerLava [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          18
          ·
          7 months ago

          In the US nobody would ever say “damn I could go for a sandwich right now” while entering a burger joint- that would be insane.

          Sandwich is definitely an umbrella term covering burger, but since there’s no word for “a normal sandwich” we usually reserve the word sandwich for the normal sandwich.

          We do very occasionally call burgers sandwiches in certain contexts, such as when we are talking about several different sandwiches and one of them is a hamburger.

          That usually only happens when talking about things like fish or chicken sandwiches at a burger restaurant. We wouldn’t even expect the question “what is your favorite sandwich?” to be answered with “hamburger” - that would be sort of weird too. It’s a very limited usage

    • yoink [she/her]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      7 months ago

      americans tend to use burger and sandwich interchangeably, unsure why/when it started but it at least seems to be a US-centric phenomenon

      • BountifulEggnog [she/her]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        7 months ago

        They are not used interchangeably in the US, people might call a burger a sandwich, but would never call a (non burger) sandwich (like a grilled cheese, tuna fish sandwich, etc) a burger.

          • BountifulEggnog [she/her]@hexbear.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            edit-2
            7 months ago

            Not all burgers are beef, yea turkey burgers are a thing here. But it is different from the turkey sandwich, and you wouldn’t call one of those a burger.

            Burgers are a subset of sandwiches, so while you can call burgers sandwiches, you can’t do the reverse. Dogs are animals, but the words aren’t interchangeable.

            You could lump turkey burgers in like OP did by calling them, and a bunch of things sandwiches as a group, but I don’t think you’d call turkey burgers a sandwich otherwise (because the turkey sandwich is a separate, already existing thing)