The alignment chart re-imagined.

[Charlaquin]

I see your citation to "Harary's" law and rebut it with ACTUAL law.

Under New York law, "Sandwiches include cold and hot sandwiches of every kind that are prepared and ready to be eaten, whether made on bread, on bagels, on rolls, in pitas, in wraps, or otherwise, and regardless of the filling or number of layers. A sandwich can be as simple as a buttered bagel or roll, or as elaborate as a six-foot, toasted submarine sandwich."

New York is not alone in this attitude. See California (Treasure Island Catering Co., Inc. v. State Board of Equalization 19 Cal.2d 181) (hamburgers and hot dogs are sandwiches). See also SALES AND USE TAX REGULATIONS - Article 8.

Similarly, your attempt to analogize Harary's Law to sandwiches fails even the most cursory scrutiny. A tunafish sandwich is indisputably a sandwich, as is a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. These two elementary examples handily disprove your assertion.

Of course, this law uses the word sandwich in its definition of sandwich, which is generally frowned upon. This definition could also be argued to include hot dogs, and yet hot dogs are often considered legally distinct from sandwiches for the purposes of such non-compete laws.

 

[Charlaquin]

He was also indisputably an inveterate gambler and his predilection towards card games led to his eponymous invention.

The notion that he was the first person to think of putting his lunch meat between two slices of bread to eat it is pretty laughable. As with most people who get credited with “inventing” a thing, he merely popularized the idea.

 

[embee]

Of course, this law uses the word sandwich in its definition of sandwich, which is generally frowned upon. This definition could also be argued to include hot dogs, and yet hot dogs are often considered legally distinct from sandwiches for the purposes of such non-compete laws.

Stephen Colbert: Is a hot dog a sandwich?

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: You’re asking me? Well, you tell me what a sandwich is and then I’ll tell you if a hot dog is a sandwich.

Colbert: A sandwich is two pieces of bread with almost any type of filling in between, as long as it’s not more bread.

Ginsburg: You say two pieces of bread. Does that include a roll that’s cut open but still not completely?

Colbert: That’s the crux. You’ve gotten [it] immediately. See this is why you’re on the Supreme Court. That gets immediately to the question: Does the roll need to be separated into two parts? Because a sub sandwich—a sub is not split, and yet it is a sandwich.

Ginsburg: Yes.

Colbert: So then a hot dog is a sandwich?

Ginsburg: On your definition, yes, it is.

You say a hot dog is not a sandwich. Ruth Bader Ginsburg says a hot dog is a sandwich.

When it comes to matters of law, I am inclined to side with the esteemed Supreme Court Justice.

 

[Charlaquin]

If gyro is a sandwich, then a taco is a sandwich, and I'm not sure that is leading to a useful definition of sandwich.

Gyros is seasoned strips of lamb and beef. A “gyros sandwich” while technically linguistically a sandwich, is only called that to differentiate it from a “gyros plate,” where the eponymous meat is served on a plate, usually with sides of rice, hummus, and pita, and occasionally a salad with tzatziki. So I’d consider it something of an edge case.

 

[Charlaquin]

You say a hot dog is not a sandwich. Ruth Bader Ginsburg says a hot dog is a sandwich.

When it comes to matters of law, I am inclined to side with the esteemed Supreme Court Justice.

Again, I’m saying a hot dog is not a sandwich under many states’ non-compete laws. If you want to challenge those laws in court, be my guest. Personally, I care little for any definition of sandwich that is based on structure and ingredients, and less for any definition based on US legal precedent. Sandwich is an English word, and words mean no more and no less than what they are commonly used to mean. Since no one actually calls a hot dog a sandwich outside of silly arguments on the internet, I wouldn’t include it in the category of things the word is commonly used to mean.

 

[Umbran]

Gyros is seasoned strips of lamb and beef.

So, I have come to understand that's not correct. Traditionally, gyros is made by grilling thin slices of meat stacked on a vertical spit, in much the same form as the Turkish doner kebab. As you cut down the length of the stack, then, what results is akin to a shredded meat (as it is cut across many thin slices). The strips of what is essentially a form of sausage are an American invention, which my Greek coworkers refuse to call gyros.

They still eat them. They just refuse to call they gyros.

 

[Umbran]

Ergo, the Atlantic is not a tea but a gaspatcho.

Gasptacho is a soup of pureed vegetables. The Atlantic is not pureed, and has fish and shellfish in it. It is therefore a cold fish soup. Lack of dairy suggests it is not a chowder.

Float a cargo ship of bread on it, and it becomes a sandwich.

 

[Umbran]

Would the sandwich then be considered both open-faced and two-faced?

No. The one who wrote the menu is two-faced. If your food has attained language skills enough to write a menu, it is no longer food, and your fridge probably need a good cleaning....

 

[Umbran]

(And, this thread is soooo not about D&D. Moving it to Geek Talk.)

 

[Umbran]

Indeed, under the above-cited official bulletin from the New York State Department of Taxation, all are, legally speaking, sandwiches.

Governments are not culinary experts. While they did not at one time explicitly qualify ketchup as a vegetable, they cited pickle relish and pizza that used sufficient tomato paste in its sauce as a vegetable. Thus, legal definitions, especially those used for taxation, should be eliminated from our discussion.