banh mi

[Benjamin Barrett]

On Jun 10, 2014, at 9:47 AM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> On Tue, Jun 10, 2014 at 12:24 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>>
>> On 17 July 2000 in the archives, Michael Horlick mentions that Vietnamese sandwiches
>> are called "banh mi."
>>
>> Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banh_mi) says they are found especially in areas
>> with substantial Vietnamese expatriate communities. I live in an area without such a
>> community and the local supermarket chain is advertising "Banh Mi / Lemongrass Chicken
>> or Pork" with Sriracha mayo and carrot daikon salad in the local paper.
>>
>> Wiktionary has an entry for the Vietnamese word "bánh mì"
>> (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/b%C3%A1nh_m%C3%AC) but not the English borrowing.
>
> American Heritage and Oxford Dictionaries have already taken note.
>
> http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=banh+mi
> http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/banh-mi

Thanks to everyone who followed up on this. Not having a subscription to the OED makes it difficult to guess what's in it, but I see that the Oxford Dictionary page is freely accessible.

Oddly, that definition calls a banh mi a "snack." That same Oxford Dictionary website defines "snack" (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/snack?q=snack) as "A light meal that is eaten in a hurry or in a casual manner" so perhaps defining a sandwich as a snack is appropriate, but to me (US usage?) anyway, defining a type of sandwich as a snack is completely misleading.

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA

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