Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

try to remember to lean completely over the kitchen sink so as not to make a mess

This gets to it. Trying to come up with rigid "classification" criteria misses the point. The reason we have words in a language is to facilitate the exchange of information.

Your goal when communicating should be to use language that limits the likelihood that you will be misunderstood.

Sure, you can say a burger, or a hot dog, or a taco, is a sandwich. But if you say "let's have sandwiches" and a plate of tacos shows up, you didn't use as clear of a word to get your point across that you could. Granted, I'm not gonna be mad; tacos are delicious. But I will be confused.

And when someone says you need a "protein" between bread to make it a sandwich, well, wheat has protein. So by that definition you could stick a slice of bread between two slices of bread and call it a sandwich. But that's not how we use the term "protein"--we typically use it to express the concept that meat, poultry, or fish is involved.

So the entire debate is pointless IMHO. A burger might technically be a sandwich, but there is a better word to describe it than sandwich; call it a burger.

This is why, on most menus now, so see the "handhelds" category.

Problem solved.

Strong words from CD on another thread:

How many items combine a kind of bread with other stuff?  A lot.  French onion soup is just a sandwich.  Beef Wellington?  Sandwich.

Is an "open-faced sandwich" actually a sandwich?  Only one piece of bread, so it fails many definitions of the classification.

In related news, I do love me a Kentucky Hot Brown. I have a buddy who throws a Kentucky Derby party every year, and he makes delicious Hot Browns along with a tasty mint julep.

Open faced what?

This is why, on most menus now, so see the "handhelds" category.

not in this neck of the woods

We chat about food here a lot.