hero etymology

[Victor Steinbok]

Maybe it's like "Satan sandwich". Or the girl scout cookies in Addams
Family--"Are they made with real Girl Scouts?"

     VS-)

On 3/18/2012 3:14 PM, Michael Newman wrote:
> The earliest cite I found in the ADS-L archive for "hero sandwich" in =
> what I think is NYC or Long Island (based on Child's) is the following =
> 2003 post by Sam Clements for 1939
>
> =
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=3Dind0310C&L=3DADS-L&P=3DR1=
> 786&1=3DADS-L&9=3DA&I=3D-3&J=3Don&d=3DNo+Match%3BMatch%3BMatches&z=3D4=20=
>
>
>
>> I don't want to steal any of Barry's thunder, but his recent diatribe
>> against the NYT shafting him once again, got me searching.
>> =20
>> Ancestry.com, from The Charleston(WV) Daily Mail, June 23, 1939,  page
>> 5/column 4:
>> =20
>>       Tastiest tidbits on the Island are toasted rolls and bacon at =
> Child's,
>> the clams and shrimp cocktails at the Clam Bar, the honey buns at =
> Hirsch's,
>> the shashlik, fried shrimp, fried clams and chow mein on the =
> boardwalk, the
>> sunshine cocktail and shore dinner at Scoville's, the Hero Sandwich (a =
> loaf
>> of Italian bread with ham and Swiss, American or Bel Paese cheese), =
> and, of
>> course the hot corn and frankfurters all along the route.
>> =20
>> I have no doubt that Barry has searched ancestry for this, but the =
> damn
>> search engine requires skill, art, luck, and.......most of all luck.
>
>
> I'm wondering about the origin of the term. It seems unrelated to the =
> Greek gyro given the presence of cold cuts and cheese. I'd like to =
> speculate that it began as a marketing term based on the large size or =
> something. Not convinced though.=20
>
> Michael Newman

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