"sammies"; was: Becky Mercuri's book American Sandwich

[Beckymercuri at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 2/5/2005 4:27:56 PM Eastern Standard Time, douglas at NB.NET
writes:
The use of "sammie/sammy" as a (nick)name/slang term for "sandwich" is
>new to me.

I surely don't recall ever encountering it either. "Sangwich" and "sammich"
(and "sanwich") are just casual pronunciation variants, I think, but
"sammy" (along with "sangy" and "sanny" and "sandy" and "sandwy" maybe) is
something else: baby-talk? advertiser-talk? diner-lingo?

I wonder what the age and gender distribution of "sammy" users would look
like.

-- Doug Wilson
Doug:

I think you may be correct when you say "baby-talk," which is what I sort of
inferred when I mentioned that the word "sammie" (or "sammy") appeared to be a
term of endearment for a favorite American dish. I've never seen it in diner
lingo.

If this is of any help to you, I've noticed that both males and females, aged
20 to around 60, have used the term. Geographically, I've noted that it's
primarily an east and west coast term - but with people relocating all over the
country, who knows? I was surprised to see it in the Houston Chronicle article,
but perhaps the author was from Pennsylvania, given her hope for a Super Bowl
between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia (and her knowledge of the Primanti
sandwich, a local favorite in Pittsburgh).

Becky