Poor Boys

[Greg Pulliam]

Isn't much of a process, actually.  At least not based on the Chicago
pronunciation of "gyro," which is often fun-etically spelled at dog
shacks as #yeero#, but is pronounced very close to /hiro/.

>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

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Greg
greg at pulliam.org