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

[neil]

on 6/2/05 3:22 pm, Beckymercuri at AOL.COM at Beckymercuri at AOL.COM wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Beckymercuri at AOL.COM
> Subject:      Re: "sammies"; was:  Becky Mercuri's book  American Sandwich
>
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> 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?

Here in the UK (and especially in Liverpool) they've always been 'sarnies'
or 'butties' (as in 'chip butty').

_Neil Crawford
>
> 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