down the middle or across

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 22, 2004, at 6:46 PM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: down the middle or across
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
>> First, this comment assumes rounded-top bread; not all was; some was
>> square. In fact, it was often called "sandwich bread," as I recall.

I remember the square loaves, too. I also remember that such a loaf was
called "sandwich bread."

-Wilson Gray

>
> Second, it assumes that the so-called horizontal cut went
> across,leaving a top and bottom half. Why couldn't it go down,
> leaving two sides?
>
> Of course, I, and nobody on my family, never cut no sandwiches on the
> diagonal (until we were introduced to yuppie customs, luckily, later
> in life, after our family values were well established).
>
> dInIs
>
>
>
>
>
>> I agree with Doug that cutting a sandwich horizontally (so the top
>> half is
>> rounded and the bottom half is squared off) would be weird.  When I
>> was a
>> kid my Dad always cut sandwiches down the middle vertically (so the
>> two
>> halves were symmetrical).  We didn't have any particular word for
>> that, but
>> Mom always cut them "catty-cornered" (not "diagonally").
>>
>> Peter Mc.
>>
>> --On Thursday, July 22, 2004 3:25 PM -0400 Beverly Flanigan
>> <flanigan at OHIOU.EDU> wrote:
>>
>>> No, no--we always cut sandwiches horizontally when I was a kid!  But
>>> when
>>> I got older, I learned it was more "proper" to cut diagonally (I
>>> never
>>> called that "across").
>>>
>>> At 03:01 PM 7/22/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>>>> Cutting the sandwich across would definitely mean cutting it
>>>> diagonally.
>>>> And, fwiw, cutting it through the *other* (horizontal) middle seems
>>>> very
>>>> very freaky to me.  I would not eat that sandwich.  And I have no
>>>> words
>>>> to describe how such a sandwich is cut.  Just.... wrong.
>>>>
>>>> -dsb
>>>> Douglas S. Bigham
>>>> Department of Linguistics
>>>> University of Texas - Austin
>>>> http://hometown.aol.com/capn002/myhomepage/index.html
>>
>>
>>
>> *****************************************************************
>> Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
>> ******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************
>
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
> Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African
> Languages
> A-740 Wells Hall
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824
> Phone: (517) 432-3099
> Fax: (517) 432-2736
> preston at msu.edu
>