The "What Do You Call A Sandwich That Looks Like A Navy Ship?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Carol and I were talking about the great sandwiches we used to get when we lived at Manor House Apartments when we were first married and when we lived in Grandview Heights where we raised our family.  While living on the west side of Lancaster we would head to Zangari's on Lemon Street for our subs and steak sandwiches and when we moved to Manheim Township, we would head to G&G Grocery store for our subs.  

Gene was the "Sub King".  Even had a sign that he wore that
said so.  Gene and I worked together at the Acme Supermarket
and he eventually quit to open his G&G Grocery story with his
wife Gwen.  Always bought my subs from them.

You know...the submarine sandwich!  What else would you call it.  Well, I found out that not everyone calls it by its correct name.  Some actually call it a hoagie while others call it a hero or maybe a grinder or even a wedge, filled roll or a spukie.  Come on, now!  They didn't name the sandwich after a battleship or a destroyer, they named it after a submarine.  They even named an entire chain of sandwich shops after the submarine.  You know...Subway!  I'm hoping no one will leave me a comment telling me they call it a bomber, torpedo, zeppelin, blimp or heaven forbid a Dagwood. I know!  Depends where you live, right!  Well the sandwiches Carol and I bought at G&G were called subs and were served on a long Italian roll.  

When Gene died, his son Derek took over
as the Sub King.  Here he is making my
turkey sub with extra mayonnaise.

We loved the turkey sub the best.  Gene would cut the roll, coat it with mayonnaise (extra for me), place piece after piece of turkey roll along the mayonnaise, layer after layer of the cheese of our choice, then came the onions on my half, tomatoes on the whole sandwich, pickles from time to time if we felt like it and lettuce which I would describe as stringie.  Salt, pepper and oil finished the sandwich.  The rolls made the sandwich and Gene got them delivered every day from an Italian bakery.  Now, that was a sub!  Then someone told me that people in Philadelphia and South Jersey called their subs "Hoagies".  Said it was due to the Italian-American culture.  Reason was that the Italian immigrants that worked at the Philadelphia Navy Yard called the place Hog Island, thus "Hoggies".  But, how could you call it a Hero?  That was said to come from New York City and was based on the fact that the name implies the heroic effort needed to actually eat a sub. 

Now, that's a great SUB.

Then you have the New Englanders who called it a Grinder and say it could be filled with meatballs or sliced chicken breast which would require so much grinding or chewing.  As far as calling a sub sandwich a Wedge, that comes from the counties north of New York.  They base the name on the diagonal cut in the middle of the sandwich which creates two wedges of bread.  You gotta be kidding me!!  And then there is the Spukie which is unique to the city of Boston and comes from the Italian word spucadella which means "long roll."  That's not even a Italian word.  Doesn't matter what you call it, it still is a sub and one of the best sandwiches you can buy.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.