[unwind]

Being Swedish, this one is really amusing.

It's like the Anglosaxon world starts with what we in Sweden would call a double sandwich (since it has two layers of bread) and declare that as the simplest form, thus considering our normal sandwiches to be "open".

Of course, in Swedish the word for an open face sandwich is simply "smörgås", which doesn't translate but does not at all have the layering (sandwiching) connotations. It means basically "buttered bread" ("smör" is literally "butter") although it's an old word.

Language. Such fun.

[pluma]

Still, buttered bread isn't a sandwich.

In Germany we call it Butterbrot (same meaning as smörgåsbröd/smørrebrød) and it's still far more popular than the sandwich (though most commercially available bread dishes definitely are sandwiches).

There's an urban legend (referenced in the Etymology section of the English Wikipedia article) that the sandwich was created by the Earl of Sandwich (or his servant) because he liked to eat buttered bread while playing card games and found it easier to eat if he added an extra slice of bread on top.

If you tell a German to make you a sandwich, you'll most likely get something resembling an actual sandwich. Though it'll likely just be buttered bread with an extra slice of bread on top and just one type of cold cuts or cheese -- because we're just not used to making actual (multi-layer or stuffed) sandwiches.