(no subject)

[avevale_intelligencer]

vampirdaddy said in a comment to allisona that the word "hamburger" did not mean "from Hamburg," but was an American burger containing ham. I promptly added this:

Okay, boggle. I have been convinced for most of my adult life that (since as far as I know burgers don't contain ham, but have always been ground beef, or "mince" as we call it over here) the word "Hamburger" *did* mean "from Hamburg" and thus our word "Beefburger" was a vile neologism.

So where did the "burger" part come from?

Next you'll be telling me "Frankfurter" means a furter made from parts of a dead American singer...

I've copied it from there, since I actually want a reply from someone who can confirm or refute this. Hamburger to the best of my knowledge has never had ham in it, and "burger" seems a strange word to apply to a round meat patty without some good reason. There's a mystery here, people, and I want it solved!

Comments

Well ...

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

... the "Frankfurter" was named after Felix Frankfurter, Austrian-born American jurist. A founder of the American Civil Liberties Union, he served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1939-1962).

(or maybe not!)

Though I do remember some Westlers-type hamburgers that did seem to include pork and pork fat in them, they were *disgusting* but were the only hot food (aside from warm stale popcorn) available in the cinema when I was young.