What does it mean when . . .

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. . . people write a different version of a word that is almost the same, but not quite? For instance, I have seen people write 'sammich', which presumably means 'sandwich' . . . but what does it imply? It's not short for sandwich, because both words have two syllables, and if the original term - sandwich - can be used to the same effect, what is the point of it?

There are lots of things like this. Similarly, I have never understood why people called Robert sometimes are referred to as 'Bob'. I could understand 'Rob' . . . but why Bob? Why substitute the R for a B? Why not substitute it for a T and call him Tob? Or call him Bert, but instead of Bert . . . Tert, which seems to follow the same logic.

Because I find such things set off odd trains of thought like this, I hate the writing that comes with those photos of cats doing 'amusing' things, like wearing a cap. It reads in my head as lots of unpleasant noises, and I have no understanding of what inference I'm supposed to take from the fact that everything is spelled incorrectly. Is it supposed to represent how good the cat might be at spelling if it was really gifted as far as cats go? Or does it somehow represent the imaginary voice of the cat? Or am I just reading far too much into everything as usual?

Does anyone else find all of this kind of thing confusing and strange?

I think the variation "sammich" is simply a regional dialect, the same way people in Boston would say "cah" instead of car.



See if this page might help answer your question. It depends on whether or not you trust Yahoo Answers, though.



I'm not sure of what you're asking with this question.

I'm not entirely sure either. I think I'm asking why everything is spelled deliberately incorrectly, and what it is meant to imply.

The name thing is quite interesting.

I was going to say just this! XD

I'm not sure what the logic is behind "LOLspeak" which is the "language" you're thinking of regarding the cats. I suppose it's meant as that's how cats would speak and write if cats could speak and write. That's just a guess on my part though.

Words like "sammich" throw me sometimes because I don't speak the dialect that uses them. I was really confused by someone using "natch" instead of "naturally" once. The people where I live use a lot of words like that, and while I understand those because I hear them so often, I think it makes them sound unintelligent.

No, most people say it because of its sexist background.
A "sammich eater" would be someone who consumes "sammiches" made by women (aka "sammich makers"... "Get back in that damn kitchen and make me a sammich!")

Anyways, no, because I'm an internet user.

But why call it a sammich to begin with?

! ! So that's what 'natch' means! I have heard that before too and always wondered what it was supposed to mean. Things like that get on my nerves because, really, how much extra effort would it be to say the extra few syllables that complete the word? - and then everyone would understand it easily.

Racist, sexist, middle-age white males in Southern US.

Why is everyone always questioning etymology? How hard is it to comprehend?

Last edited by jmnixon95 on 21 Mar 2011, 8:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yes, that's what I don't understand about it.

See above.

It's what we do. It's what we live for.
The obvious answer is that sexist, racist males aren't very bright.

Or the existence of colloquial speech.

But it seems equally sexist to instruct said woman to get in the kitchen and make a sandwich . . . or anything else, for that matter.

But you asked the meaning of 'sammich.'

It actually does seem to be a dialect, specifically a southern one.

According to Urban Dictionary: