Sandwiches

[sweeneytoddsrazor]

Making myself some lunch yesterday asked DH if he would like anything to which he replied yes please can I have a couple of cheese sandwiches. I made them, 2 slices of bread as per normal cut in half. When he had finished them said thank you he asked , in curious not arsey way, how come when you make a couple of sandwiches you use 2 slices of bread but when you make a couple of toasties you use 4?
I actually don't know the answer. I guess it's probably because in a cafe it is written as toasted sandwich on the menu, whereas a cold sandwich is usually listed under sandwiches. Or am I just strange. He isn't worried either way but I am now left wondering if I am doing it differently to everyone else?

I don’t understand your sandwich/toasted sandwich analogy/reasoning at all! 🤷‍♀️
Can you explain what you mean OP?

I'm not surprised he asked for 2. Unless it was stuffed with a tonne of salad and other things, surely a cheese sandwich is a bit measly- hence he asked for 'a couple'.
The term 'a couple' refers to 2, whole things- not 2 halves of one thing!

I think the cafe thing is because most people I have heard order them around my area say can I have a cheese toastie please, or can I have the cheese sandwiches please , maybe its a regional thing? I am relieved to find I'm not the only one who thinks it is 2 sandwiches not 1 even if its only a small minority of us 😂

No salad he likes some chopped onion in a toastie and Branston in a sandwich

I'm still confused by your reasoning. When someone asks 'can I have a cheese toastie please' don't they receive a sandwich made up of two slices of toasted bread and cheese, usually cut in half to make it easier to eat? You see the cheese toastie as 1 sandwich, is that right?

So if you see the toasted cheese as 1 sandwich (which it is), then why do you think a sandwich made up of cheese and two slices of non toasted bread is actually 2 sandwiches? It's the same thing only it hasn't been toasted!

A ciabatta is a ciabatta, not a sandwich. A sandwich is made from slices of bread. This doesn’t mean ‘sliced bread’ in the sense of bread from a packaged, sliced loaf, but you have to slice the bread to make a sandwich…

Yes I get that is logical but as people ( at least around my area) ask for the cheese sandwiches its a plural so it makes it more than one even if the reality is that it is one cut in half.

How? It’s not a sandwich at all until both are put together. You butter each piece and put the filling in, this making a sandwich. Then you cut it in half or quarters to make it easier to eat. That doesn’t make it two or four sandwiches though.

A round of toast is always one slice of bread toasted. Two rounds is two slices, and so on. Why would it be more? ‘Round’ is just another way of saying ‘slice’ in this instance.

You make a sandwich then cut it in half and call it two sandwiches? Or do you cut the bread in half then make the sandwiches?

2 slices of bread is one sandwich. Unless it's for little kids, but then I just fold a slice in half, keeps it together more.

Do you usually have just one (of your) sandwich for lunch?

What if he asked for just one sandwich?

This exactly .

As a PP asked, what would you call one of the halves of the sandwich you made? Would you call that a sandwich or half a sandwich?
Also even if the people say they’ll have ‘the sandwiches’ (which sounds really odd and I’ve never heard anyone do it) that still doesn’t help - they don’t say ‘I’ll have 2 cheese sandwiches’ do they?

I would call one half a sandwich yes. But nobody has ever specifically asked me for one its always been a couple or less specifically some sandwiches

How can it be one sandwich when you've just cut the sandwich you made into two halves though? If you didn't cut it you wouldn't call the original sandwich, two sandwiches?

This is genuinely one of the strangest threads I've ever read surely the definition of a sandwich is something between two slices of bread.

To me a sandwich is 2 slices of bread and a toastie is the same by default. I don't really understand or recognise the cafe example.

The only time I can picture someone referencing 'a couple of sandwiches' though would be if I was going up to a buffet and would interpet it as picking them up two quarters. I wouldnt expect someone to mean 4 slices of bread although by my own definition that is what it means!

If I asked for a couple of sandwiches, I’d expect two slices of bread, cut in half. But clearly I’m the odd one!

I’m tired, but this thread has ended up blowing my mind.

A sandwich - 2 slices of bread, or a teeny weeny afternoon tea or buffet sandwich...

Sandwiches - a 2 slices of bread sandwich in a lunchbox or multiple mini sandwiches from a buffet or afternoon tea…?

The thing is, I know what all of these things mean. God, English must feel impossible for non-native speakers sometimes, we love tying ourselves in knots.

Also yes, sandwich is starting to look vert odd. Too much sandwich. I grew up in Kent, near Sandwich 😁.

Well, I’m currently sat in a hotel with my 14yr old and both of us are bored - after mentioning this thread, it has initiated quite a heated debate here!

Have to admit, until now I hadn’t given it a lot of thought. However my son quite adamantly says defo two slices of bread = 1 sandwich and I think I agree.

Although, incidently, when doing cheese toasties I do always use 4 slices of bread. Mostly due to the sandwich toaster having enough space for two rounds and why would you heat the toaster just to do one.

This has taken up a lot of thought time 🤣

Love the idea of an “Arf-er” sandwhich though! Genius! 🤣

So what would you have made if he asked for “a cheese sandwich”?

Each one of those divided up bits of sandwich is a sandwich in its own right. Bread, with something between.

But, it's bread with something between two pieces of it, thus "sandwich".

It's not a sandwich though, it's one half of the sandwich you made and then cut in two.

It's quite strange that if your dh asks you for a couple of cheese sandwiches he only gets 1 sandwich (2 slices of bread) but if he asks for a couple of toasted cheese sandwiches you give him 2 sandwiches (4 slices of bread).

A couple of sandwiches means 2 sandwiches, using 4 slices of bread, it doesn't matter if the sandwiches are toasted or not.

It's just really baffling to me that because you say some people in your local area have a peculiar way of asking for sandwiches you think sandwiches are different to their toasted version.

If someone were to ask you for a cheese sandwich what would you do?

Before this thread probably would have buttered one slice of bread , cut it in half then added the filling. Now I would probably question it

You made one cheese sandwich and cut it in half. He asked for two.

That was one cheese sandwich. How disappointing for him.