Is a Hot Dog a Sandwich? The Argument, Settled

Is a hot dog a sandwich?

Is a hot dog a sandwich? It depends on which definition you hold the hot dog to, and that is exactly why the argument never ends. One side is asking whether a hot dog fits the description of a sandwich. The other side is asking whether anyone actually calls it one. Those are two different questions, and each side is usually right about its own.

When two people use the same word in two different senses and keep talking past each other, that is the setup for equivocation. The fastest way through this argument is to name the two questions, answer both, and then decide which one you were really fighting about.

The case for yes: it is meat in bread

The sandwich side has structure on its side. A hot dog is a filling held in bread that you pick up and eat with your hands, which is most of what anyone means by a sandwich. The split roll is not very different from a sub roll, and nobody denies that a sub is a sandwich, even when the roll is hinged on one side.

They also have some heavy hitters. Merriam-Webster has stated that a hot dog is a sandwich. The American English entry in the Cambridge Dictionary describes the frankfurter as the sausage eaten as part of the sandwich called a hot dog. And Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, asked the question, said a hot dog might count, depending on how you define a sandwich, and compared the bun to the roll of a submarine sandwich.

• Filling plus bread, eaten by hand: the core of the sandwich idea.
• The sub roll comparison: one roll, cut open, still a sandwich.
• At least one major dictionary says yes outright, and another uses the word sandwich in its definition.

The verdict

What it sounds like

The case for no: one roll is not two slices

The no side starts with the people who make hot dogs. In 2015 the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council declared that a hot dog is not a sandwich, and famous competitive eaters and the hot dog chain Nathan's Famous have sided with that view. You can discount the Council as an interested party, but they are describing how the food is sold and talked about.

There is also a court on this side, sort of. In a 2006 Massachusetts lease dispute, White City Shopping Center v. PR Restaurants, a judge ruled that the term sandwich is not commonly understood to include burritos, tacos and quesadillas, and described a sandwich as including at least two slices of bread. A hot dog bun is one piece of bread, not two.

Finally, there is plain usage. Menus list hot dogs and sandwiches separately. If a friend says they are bringing sandwiches to the game and shows up with hot dogs, nobody goes hungry, but everyone notices. Words mean what people use them to mean, and in daily life a hot dog is a hot dog.

Why the argument never ends

Both sides lean on authorities, and neither authority settles it. A dictionary records how words are used, including loose uses. An industry council has a brand to protect. A court ruling on a lease was about what a shopping center tenant agreed to, not about lunch. Quoting any of them as the final word is an appeal to authority when the real question is which definition you are using.

There is also a fun outside view. The Cube Rule, a tongue in cheek system that sorts foods by where the starch sits, files a hot dog under tacos, because the bread holds the filling from the bottom and two sides. Under that system, the sandwich side and the no side both lose.

The ruling

The question as asked is whether a hot dog is a sandwich, which is a question about definitions. On definitions, the yes side has the stronger case: bread holding a filling, a split roll just like a sub, and a major dictionary on record. The no side wins on usage, which matters for menus and grocery lists but does not change what the thing is.

So: a hot dog is technically a sandwich, a specialized one, the way a sub is. Call it a hot dog anyway. If you need someone to rule on your version of this fight, paste both sides into the argument judge.