You all can probably tell when it's getting close to meal time because my posts are suddenly about food. Today's no exception... so question for you since I assume we're from all parts of the country and world, come to think of it. So first is the sandwiches that Subway sells. Of course *they* call them subs/submarines, but before Subway, did you still call them subs? Or grinders? or... ??? Hero? Torpedo? For me, it's always been a hoagie. It's still a hoagie even though I eat Subway subs. Our sub shops have "hoagie" on the menu. Now if I get it warm on a toasted bun, it's technically a grinder, but still a hoagie. And secondly, what do you call the fizzy drink that comes with your sandwich? Soda? Pop? Soda Pop? Soft Drink? Or do you call all of it "Coke?" (I've heard a few places do that.) In my world, it's soft drink and I've never called it anything else.
We called them Torpedoes...and we never in the South of England call it a fizzy pop...although further north they do....here we call it by it's name Coke/ 7up/ or whatever..or if it's non fizzy...again by it's name ''orange juice'' ''Blackcurrant juice' or at a push a ''soft drink'' In Scotland where I grew up...a bread roll with any filling is called ''roll and''...eg..a roll and sausage..''a roll and bacon'' a roll and cheese'' ...rather than a bacon roll/cheese roll etc.. ..and a fizzy drink is just called ''Ginger''...regardless of it's flavour! again...this Island is a country with a huge diversity of dialects so there's whole different names for just about everything even just in the next county... ..
Where and when I grew up in the UP of Michigan, they were called sub sandwiches, and that was before I'd ever heard of a Subway restaurant. Here in Maine, now, I have heard them referred to as subs and as hoagies. As for the drink, I grew with them being referred to as pop, and that's the most common term I hear for them here in Maine now, although soda is catching on. When I moved to California, if someone needed to refer to them collectively, they referred to them as soft drinks but, more often, people referred to them by the flavor they were looking for, such as a cola, a root beer, or a 7-up. While I was in California, I quit using the word pop because not only did people not know what I meant by it, but they thought it was funny. In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, a lot of people would refer to any flavor of soft drink as a coke. "What kind of coke do you want?" "Root beer." Then again, they refer to limes as green lemons.
This is almost exactly the experience that I had , @Ken Anderson ! I grew up in north Idaho, and it was all called "pop" out there, too. We just asked for the flavor that we wanted. We didn't have any kind of sub sandwiches in my small town; but Spokane , the nearest large town, had some. The main one that I remember was on Division ( the Main Street in Spokane at the time) and the shop was called "Sub-Division". They described the sandwiches as a submarine sandwich, probably because that is what the long sandwich resembled. Subway came along MUCH later; but then managed to grow into probably the most well known sub shop. When I moved out here to Alabama, people had no idea what pop was either, and when I went in and asked for the pop machine or cooler; I would just get a totally blank and confused look from people until I remembered to correct that to "soda " , and then they still looked at me strangely because they could not figure out why I didn't even know such a simple word as soda. Most of them call it a "sodie" when they are natives of the south. But.......these are the same people that think that a "Winter-bagel" is a motor home....... ( I honestly saw this advertised on Craigslist)
So it *is* true! (About calling it all Coke!) I've heard it but was never quite sure if my leg was being pulled or not. Very interesting about the green lemons... I haven't heard that one. And @Holly Saunders , I loved hearing about what you've called these things in both England and Scotland!
Subs were called subs before Subway, which always struck me as a clever name for the sandwich chain. It's short for submarine due to their shape. Where I live they're called grinders but I never knew why. Pennsylvania calls them hoagies and I also don't know why. New York says hero's and subs. Hero might be because of the sandwich's (then) huge size, but might be the sandwich named "gyro" from Greek which does sound like the word "hero"a little and not " ji-ro". Anybody?
http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitc...-of-hoagies-grinders-subs-heroes-and-spuckies Hope the is pertinent to the question (if it works).
I luuuuurve Gyros' they're my favourite sandwich ...can't get them around here, but when I go to Greece I make sure and get one almost every day...
I've heard most of the different names for those sandwiches but never had called them anything before subway. I don't like the few I've tried at subway anyhow, too much bread. Several names are common around here for the drinks, soda pop and coke are the ones I use most.
I can get them, but I have to say that the things most restaurants try to pass off as a gyro is NO WHERE near what the authentic is like. The closest I've come to a local authentic tasting Gyro (You're not going to believe this one!) was from a hospital cafeteria when I was working there. I kid you not! The thing that bugs me most (petty, I know) is the way that most people pronounce the word. I went to order one ... at a Greek food place, no less, and ordered it with the way it's supposed to be pronounced and waitress looked at me like I was an idiot. She insisted I wanted a "GY (rhymes with fly) RO" Ugh!
I noticed that, too, @Sheldon Scott ... the bread thing. I like the cheddar bread option, but not all by itself. My daughter actually found a way to deal with that problem... she orders with extra meat and it just costs a dollar more. Last one she got was packed full of meat. I've also noticed that their 6" are more like 5" now for whatever reason, or at least locally, so that helps with the abundance of bread, too.
We have a sub shop near the University called "Sub Conscious". I just call the sandwich a "sub". And sodas I call by name or I'll ask "What kind of soda do you want?" But I don't drink sodas and don't eat subs.
@Bill Boggs -This article is great, fun and informative! I learned "spuckies" and "wedges" are called so in areas very close to me and I never knew it. There's also a "garibaldi" in Wisconsin. Thanks, Bill! From the article, I see that Greek influence on the hero is not accurate, it is only that you have to be a hero to eat one. I would love to quote everything in the article, but it's too much. The sandwich had changed a lot since I was a child. In the old Italian neighborhood, an old grocery shop with creaky wooden floors sold a "grinder" on a huge, rustic, crispy and chewy loaf made right there, with I'll bet close to a pound of meat on it, along with lettuce, tomato, cheeses, onions, peppers; any or all of it, with drizzles of Italian vinaigrette over it all. They were more than enough for 2 adults with leftovers! I agree, Subway is mostly bread, inferior bread at that, with precious little of the thinly shaved and thinly placed meat & cheese, pre-portioned and closely controlled. ugh.
@Mari North , yes the 5 or 6 inch Subway bread... a year or two ago, there was a big flap in the news about Subway selling 5 inches as 6 inches. Somebody measured! Are they back to their old tricks now?
I knowwwww.it irritates the heck outta me when people call them GYROS..as you say rhyming with FLY....The G is in fact almost silent...and the word is pronounced from the *Y*...so one would say ''Yeeros''...in fact did you know that the word Gyros is actually the singular and if you wanted more than one Gyros...you would ask for some ..GYRI ** Yee-ree**