Hotdogs Are Sandwiches, The Debate Is Over
No I'm not kidding. Change my mind. I dare you.
If you are on social media often, have sat down and had a comedic yet partially serious conversation with a friend, or have maybe just been high and have entered that mindset where interesting questions come to mind, then you have probably grazed by the question, "Is a hotdog a sandwich?" This question and many similar ones have created interesting debates between people in which various points and opinions are made popular through social media like Twitter. But facts don't care about your feelings so today, through some thorough research, I will be proving why hotdogs are sandwiches.
We're all about facts here. So, let's define some terms, namely, hotdog and sandwich.
Dictionary.com defines the hotdog in question as, "a sandwich consisting of a frankfurter in a split roll, usually eaten with mustard, sauerkraut, or relish."
So, even just looking at the given definition of a hotdog, we are already told that it is a sandwich. For you still not convinced from here, we'll continue. Many people claim that a sandwich must be made with two pieces of bread. But we, as an intellectual species, have evolved the art of sandwich making.
Currently, Merriam-Webster defines a sandwich as, "two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between."
If you stop here, non-believers would be shouting in opposition saying, "HA! It clearly states TWO pieces of bread! Hotdog buns are connected and therefore are not a sandwich." I used to be a believer of this (with the exception of the circumstances in which the hotdog bun is broken in two) but as I progressed in my research, my understanding of the situation has changed. If you continued reading on, Merriam-Webster gives another sub-definition of a sandwich as "one slice of bread covered with food."
This definition brings me to my next point.
If you go to Starbucks and ask for some coffee, you are faced with many different options from iced to black to blonde to a Triple, Venti, Half Sweet, Non-Fat, Caramel Macchiato. Same things go for sandwiches. You've got a club sandwich, a French dip, a po-boy, a sub sandwich, and yes, even hot pockets and quesadillas are considered sandwiches according to Wikipedia.
This is the case because the word "sandwich" is just an umbrella term, like "coffee" or "tea" or "hat."
There are generic sandwiches, two slices of bread and a filling in between and there are many other sub-categories underneath that term.
For example, there are ice cream sandwiches, open-faced sandwiches, and then there are pocket sandwiches which are made using a single piece of folded or hollowed bread. Based on observations of the hotdog paired with the definitions provided, we can assume the fact that the hotdog goes underneath the pocket sandwich category. In addition, not only do we have different versions and various names for different sandwiches in the United States, there are variations all over the world. For the case of this argument, the Germans have already recognized the hotdog as a sandwich, as a "hotdog" in the United States is referred to as a "bratwurst sandwich" for them.
This argument has been going on for a while and hopefully, with all of these facts and with a little more explanation, this has helped to settle your mind on whether a hotdog is a sandwich or not. For you who never thought it was, I hope this helps you understand the other side of the argument and hopefully has changed your mind. For those of you who always thought that the hotdog was a sandwich, I applaud you for your intelligence and I hope this provides you with evidence to show your peers who think otherwise, why the hotdog is within the subcategories of the sandwich family.
