"hamburg" = hamburger (was electric = "electric power")

[Jonathan Lighter]

I wonder if there were originally two full forms, "Hamburger steak" and "Hamburg steak."

That would explain the existence of two short forms today.

JL

"Joanne M. Despres" <jdespres at MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Joanne M. Despres"
Subject: "hamburg" = hamburger (was electric = "electric power")
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I grew up hearing it and find it a bit strange, too! Actually, I think of
it as nonstandard, as something my working-class relatives would
use but not my teachers, for example.

I once had to mediate a dispute between two friends, one (an auto
mechanic from northern CT) who used the word unselfconsciously
and the other (from an educated family in the Chicago area) who
claimed that it wasn't a word. Of course, I had to explain to the
latter friend that it WAS indeed a word, and in fact a non-
stigmatized one (in the M-W Collegiate, anyway).

I see from DARE that the use of the word has been recorded
throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic, as well as in Ohio
and Michigan.

Joanne



On 15 Sep 2005, at 14:48, Wilson Gray wrote:

> But, "hamburg" for "hamburger (meat)" in the greater Boston area I
> still find strange, even after over a quarter-century of hearing it.
>


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