Poor Boys

[Anne Lambert]

I doubt very much if "hero" can be derived from "gyro." We don't have that
kind of phonetic process in English.
Muffuletta is as described--chopped green olives, pimentos, etc.
I know very little about the hero you describe, or really about any hero.  I
always assumed it was just a variant term for the submarine.  Maybe I'm wrong
and it's a different sandwich.

Laurence Horn wrote:

> James Smith writes:
> >I've assumed (I know, never safe) that "hero" was
> >derivative of Greek "gyro".
> >
> I wonder.  They're phonetically similar, but ethnically and culinarily
> distinct.  Especially the latter; if the gyros sandwiches I've had in Greek
> joints around the country since the mid-70's (large pita-like bread stuffed
> with shaved lamb or beef from a rotating spit--whence the name--garnished
> with tomatoes, cucumber, and a tasty cucumber-yogurt-type sauce, with hot
> sauce optional) are indicative, there's very little relation to the hero
> sandwiches I grew up on in both New York City and Maine in the 50's
> (Italian bread seasoned with olive oil and stuffed with various Italian
> cold cuts--genoa salami being the true essential, but joined by its
> cousins--and cheese (usually provolone), as well as diced peppers, onions,
> and crushed red pepper.  Besides being good for lunch, there's not much in
> common between the two.  I'd never come across the "gyro" in New York in
> the 50's or 60's, and we were always told the hero was so-called because
> you had to be one to eat it all.  Of course, that COULD be a folk
> etymology, but if so I have no idea what the true one is.
>
> larry