Monday, November 9, 2020

Is a hotdog a sandwich?

In my language arts class today, we started our philosophy unit and talked about logic. 

Our question was is a hotdog a sandwich? Class got a little chaotic after that...

This is the example:

Establish principles: 

A sandwich is a food that has filling between two pieces of bread. 

Check your principles: 

Does your definition now include things that it shouldn't? Ex: S'mores

Does your definition now exclude things that it shouldn't? Ex: Subs

Do you need to establish more principles? 

Savory filling between two pieces of bread. 

Challenge your own views: 

Can a sandwich include any sweet ingredients like caramelized onions? Then why not two sweet ingredients? Or three? Or five? 


I was talking about this with my dad this evening, and this is a principle we came up with. 

A sandwich is at least two pieces of leavened bread with a salad in the middle.

This excludes tortillas, crackers, and possibly other things, too. 

What do you think? Is a hotdog a sandwich? Do you have any other principles that would apply to sandwiches? 

14 comments:

ET said...

It's a good thing you have three doctors of philosophy you can turn to with questions.

Roy said...

For when your philosophy is injured.

Tanya said...

What about PB&J?

Tanya said...

For hot dog, before coming to France, I probably would have said no based on the orientation of the opening. But then I learned about baguette sandwiches stuffed with fries that are eaten much the same way.

Roy said...

Are you asking if PB&J counts as a salad? I told Rachel we would define sandwich as leavened bread with salad in the middle, and then the problem is just finding a suitable definition for salad.

I didn't know France had French fry sandwiches, too. Just like Pittsburgh!

Rachel said...

I asked my dad want the definition of salad was, and he said at least two things mixed together. I told him PB&J was NOT salad.

Tanya said...

Question Two: Is PB&J a salad? => Go.

Roy said...

I landed on salad because of egg salad sandwiches. Is egg salad a salad?

Tanya said...

Yes. Salad = chopped up cold ingredients in a bowl with dressing.

Tanya said...

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/salad

PB&J could even fit under Definition 3.

Rachel said...

I don't think PB&J is a salad. My definition would have been chopped up cold ingredients in a bowl with dressing, but you can also eat salad on a plate... The problem with what's above is that it now excludes things that don't have dressing. Like marshmallow salad (I'm pretty sure that's a thing) and egg salad. But I don't think PB&J is salad.

If a hotdog isn't a sandwich, is it a taco??? I say no because tacos have to have tortillas. That's what makes them a taco.

Roy said...

Peanut butter is chopped up cold peanuts, with optional sugar dressing. Jam/jelly is chopped up cold fruit, with obligatory sugar dressing. If you put two salads together, it's still a salad. Therefore, PB&J is salad. QED.

ket said...

Then there's word salad.

Tanya said...

Egg salad has dressing. It's the sauce that you mix in, usually a cream-based one, I think. Marshmallow salad does, too. The jello would be the dressing.