Sandwich: Filling between top and bottom pieces of bread

The most common question for Definition Mining might be “what’s a sandwich”, or maybe more specifically “is a hot dog a sandwich?”

This is a great question because it really highlights a key idea of definitions, they’re supposed to reduce confusion. If you asked me for a sandwich and I brought you a hotdog, you’d probably be a little confused. And maybe I could explain “that the dictionary says a sandwich is two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between, which includes a hotdog.” But this overly broad definition is increasing confusion, it’s including things that we wouldn’t normally consider a sandwich. Should we be forced to use that definition or should we come up with one that matches the way we actually use the word? I think almost everyone would prefer a better definition, but we can’t be sure that a better definition exists, maybe we’re stuck with what we have? Let’s see what we can do.

“Split roll” isn’t helping us here. That could include things as varied as dinner rolls or cinnamon rolls. Also, there exists other usages of the word “sandwich”, based on the original food, that give us an idea of what the structure of a sandwich should be:

To be squeezed between

Something constructed of horizontal layers

With a hot dog (or a lobster roll, which is often made on the same kind of bread) I’d argue that the filling isn’t being squeezed between two layers, it’s actually wedging apart the bread. And that’s because when you set a traditional sandwich down, the forces acting on it, mainly gravity, are squishing everything together. While with a hot dog the forces are pushing the filling down and the pieces of bread apart. The horizontal layers are important, not just for the appearance, but they also give some idea of how a sandwich was intended to be used. The sandwich was invented to cleanly hold filling between two pieces of bread

I’m careful to say “pieces” of bread instead of “slices” of bread because it’s been pointed out to me that many kinds of sandwiches, like subs and po boys, are made by cutting a roll almost in half. I agree that these are sandwiches, and that therefore the pieces of bread don’t have to be completely separate slices, merely cut enough through to function as two pieces. But then what’s the difference between a split roll for a hot dog and one for a sub? It could be that a sub roll is cut almost all the way through, while a hot dog still has a decent amount of bread underneath the filling. But more importantly, why don’t we cut hot dog buns almost all the way through? Because the bottom of the roll has to support the filling, and the edge of a sub roll doesn’t, it’s merely a hinge keeping the top piece in place.

And that’s the key idea of what makes a sandwich a sandwich, it has top and bottom pieces. It’s constructed horizontally, not merely bread with filling, but layers that are stacked. This maximizes its ability to keep you and your hands clean while holding it, and to keep itself together when you put it down, for example, to gather up a hand of cribbage, without making a mess. The key question to find out if something with bread and filling is a sandwich or not is “can I put it back down, upside down?” If yes, then it’s most likely a sandwich. If not, either because you’d make a mess or because it doesn’t really have a top or bottom, then no, it’s probably not.

Now we just have to clean up a few potential objections to this definition, and we should be all set.

What about a club sandwich, which has three or more pieces of bread?

It still has two pieces which form a top and bottom, the fact that it has extra pieces in the middle is fine.

What about a cheese steak or some other sub style sandwich that’s overstuffed and served on its side to keep everything together?

That’s just a messy sandwich. If they were made with an appropriate amount of filling, then they could sit normally on the plate. But because they’re so overstuffed they have to sit on their side, and I think most people would agree that they’re sitting on their side as opposed to a hot dog which is sitting on its bottom.

What about an open faced sandwich?

This is a great question, and the answer is that there’s a difference between “a sandwich with an open face” and “an open faced sandwich.” The first is a normal sandwich which is missing its top, and to describe it we say it’s a sandwich and then modify it to describe what’s missing. While an “open faced sandwich” is a name of a particular kind of food. It’s something that wasn’t so popular that it got its own name, so we took the name of something close to it, a sandwich, and adjusted it a little. It’s like the “cookie cake” you can buy in the mall. It’s not a cake, it’s something that looks like a cake. An open faced sandwich isn’t a kind of sandwich, it’s just the name we gave to something that was almost like a sandwich.

What about ice cream sandwiches or tacos or ice cream tacos? What about calzones?

None of them have bread in them. Bread is made from dough that’s been shaped, risen and baked. Calzones aren’t made with bread, they’re made with dough and then baked, the rest are cookies or tortillas, which aren’t bread either. I was also going to say that sandwiches need to have a savory filling, but I can’t get over the idea that a jelly sandwich would still be a sandwich. And that makes me think that if you put ice cream in between slices of bread it would be a sandwich too. It would be weird, but I think most people would agree, unappetizing, but still a sandwich.

And I think that would be a great experiment for anyone who questions what really counts as a sandwich. Make a true ice cream sandwich, between two slices of bread, and report back, did it seem like a real sandwich to you?