In Pennsylvania they’ve got hoagies; in New York they’ve got heroes; in Louisiana, po’ boys; and pretty much everywhere else, subs. But in New England? Well, it turns out that we have a fewspecial names for those long sandwiches. Are they grinders?Subs?Spuckies?Let’s review.
Historically, New Englanders have called these sandwiches a number of different things: grinders, spukies, Italian sandwiches, subs… All of these terms are traditionally found in the New England lexicon. Today, despite the fact that “sub” dominates across the nation by a wide margin, our unique Yankee names still live on here in the northeast.
In 2003, linguists Bert Vaux and Scott Golder released the results of their Harvard Dialect Survey, a massive study launched to helpsolve the mysteries of regional American dialects. Several years later, Vaux and researcher Marius L. Jøhndal began a similar study called the Cambridge Online Survey of World Englishes. One of the questions asked in both these studies aimed to determinewhat Americans call a “long sandwich that contains cold cuts, lettuce, and so on.” The results, which the researchers used to create dialect maps of the whole Unites States, show that New England is divided by the nameswe give to our subs.
Plan Your Perfect Summer Adventure: Get The Free Ultimate New England Summer Guide!
Based on those maps, here’san overview of New England’s “sub divisions”:
Grinders, Subs, and Spuckies | Sandwich Names of New England
Southern & Western New England Sandwich Names
Looking at New England’s southern shores, it’s clear thatConnecticut and Rhode Island say “grinder” more than anything else. The origin of grinder is not well known, though it’s said that the name initially came from the tough Italian bread used to make the sandwich, which you would have to “grind” your teeth through. According to the data,grinder is a term that’s also found quite often throughout Vermont, New Hampshire, and western and central Massachusetts. Elsewhere, folks might use “grinder” to distinguish a hot sub from a cold one — the former being the grinder and the latter the sub — though this distinction seems to have largely disappeared over the years.
Greater Boston Sandwich Names
Eastern Massachusetts is another story. The Greater Boston area, as well as Cape Cod and the Islands, seem to be largely grinder-less, instead preferring either the classic “sub” or a smattering of different names from other regions, such as hero or hoagie. Within Boston, however, there is even greater diversity. The term “spukie” (or “spuckie”) is unique to the Boston area and comes from the Italian word spucadella, meaning “long roll.” What’s interesting about thisterm is thatspucadellaisn’t found in most Italian dictionaries, which suggests that it could come from a regional Italian dialect, or even be a Boston Italian innovation. Spukie is typically heard in South Boston, though you can also find bakeries in the North End with homemade spucadellas for sale.
Northeastern New England Sandwich Names
In Maine, however, they don’t want anything to do with spukies or grinders. Instead, the term of choice is Italian sandwich. Beware, though, as an Italian sandwich in Maine is not just any old sub. The Italian sandwich is a special concoction of ingredients, including things likeolive oil, onions, and tomatoes. In theYankee Classic articleItalian Sandwiches | Portland Maine’s Unsung Contribution to the World, the author describes the Italian sandwich formulaat one particularly famous restaurant in Portland. Due to its proximity to Maine, you may also find some Italian sandwiches in eastern New Hampshire.
Sandwich Names Throughout New England
Nowadays, the majority of Americans — even New Englanders — tend to stick to saying“sub.”Even that name, though, has its origins inNew England. “Sub,” short for “submarine sandwich,”is said to come from Connecticut, where what was originally called a grinder became a sub because ofthe sandwich’s uncanny resemblance to the submarines in a nearby naval shipyard. (SeeSubmarine Sandwiches | What’s in a Namefor more on the submarine sandwich’s origin story.)
Of course, as with most things involvingdialects and language, these patterns aren’t set in stone. Occasionally, you may encounter grindersin Boston, heroes in Connecticut, or Italian sandwiches in Vermont, but throughout New England and the rest of America, you can count on findingsubs.
Hopefully this guide helps you to better understand some of thequirks ofNew England speech. And remember: when you hear someoneshout “spukie” on the streets of Boston, they’re not callingyou a name — they’re just hungry.
What arethese sandwiches called where you live?
This post was first published in 2016 and has been updated.
