I would say a soft taco is, very broadly, a type of sandwich. It’s more towards the non-sandwich end of the sandwich continuum, but it could technically be considered one. Hot dog is much closer to the middle of the continuum. Is a lobster roll a sandwich? If that’s a sandwich, I just can’t see any way a hot dog would not be considered one. It’s the same damned thing with encased meat in the middle instead of lobster meat.
Neither one of them are. This isn’t that difficult a concept. The term ‘sandwich’ is both an English noun as well as a verb. Neither of those definitions include anything other than a creation that consists of at least two separate pieces of bread separating the filler. That obviously excludes a hotdog and also makes it obvious that anyone that utters the phrase ‘open faced sandwich’ is either retarded or trolling in real-life. Tacos, burritos, hot-dogs, wraps and even subs are not sandwiches because they are contrary to the intent of the term.
Sand·wich
Noun
1.
an item of food consisting of two pieces of bread with meat, cheese, or other filling between them, eaten as a light meal.
“a ham sandwich”
Verb
2. Insert or squeeze (someone or something) between two other people or things, typically in a restricted space or so as to be uncomfortable.
“the girl was sandwiched between two burly men in the back of the car”
That means that a hotdog could be a sandwich but your mother could be on a hot Saturday night.
I’ve had plenty of hot dogs where the bun is split. Perhaps not intentionally, but it ends up split. Does my “non-sandwich” all of a sudden become a “sandwich” because of this? And where do concoctions like this fit on the spectrum? That’s clearly a sandwich, despite not having a piece of bread completely cut through (see the slew of sub sandwich places that don’t cut all the way through.)
Meanwhile, if we’re playing the dictionary game:
1 sand·wich noun \ˈsan(d)-ˌwich, ˈsam-; dial ˈsaŋ-\
1a : two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between
b : one slice of bread covered with food
“Real” tacos aren’t some crisp molded shell but a flat small tortilla with meat, cheese, cilantro, whatever piled on top. You can fold it if you wish, but it doesn’t “rest” that way. At best, they’re open faced sandwiches.
I am sorry. I am not buying it because it negates the whole historical point of the term. At one point, people had bread and they had fillings but they had to eat them separately because the technology did not yet exist for them to do any better. It was predictably messy but there was no known way around that simple fact. The Earl of Sandwich was the Albert Einstein or Thomas Edison of his time. He made the culinary theoretical breakthroughs that not only encompassed ‘sliced bread’ theory but followed it up with the idea that you could put ingredients between two of those pieces (people later found out the limit was actually higher than two but he didn’t know that at the time). Understandably, this revelation created quite the ruckus in 18th century Britain and the idea quickly took off (derivations of the idea could be found just decades later as far away as the Netherlands). This ‘sandwich’ technology ultimately spread to the New World and (skip a bunch of irrelevant bullshit)…lead to other diverse inventions ranging from Miracle Whip to Jiff Peanut Butter.
It doesn’t matter how it rests, it’s how it works to hold and eat.
The “no’s” have taken the lead… Can it hold up?
The proper terminology for food was determined long ago by the Hogfather, it’s not subject to the votes of people who think a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup is a candy bar, or people who put ketchup on their hotdog sandwiches.
What about a Manhattan? It has two slices of bread with meat (roast beef or turkey usually). That seems to be a sandwich, but when you add the mashed potatoes and gravy it makes it something you should eat with a knife and fork. Did the sandwich morph into a non-sandwich with the new ingredients?
If that counts as a sandwich, even though the bread is replaced with chicken patties, and if a hot dog is a sandwich, even though the bun is a single unit, then a taco would be a sandwich as well.
I see the taco question has already been brought up. In my defense, I’ll just ask “What is wrong with you people!”
I will mention that aside from those stupid New England style hot dog buns each bun consists of two pieces, a top and a bottom, as do hamburger buns and other types of rolls. The insignificant and often insufficient bit of bread joining them does not change the fact that the hot dog is sandwiched between two pieces of bread, a hot dog roll top, and a hot dog roll bottom.
Unlike other sausages which are sliced the hot dog (the sausage) is used in its entirety. If the hot dog isn’t sandwichized I don’t see how it can be part of a sandwich.
I think our friend Spud is on to something here.
While we’ve all been so focused on the conveyance (i.e. sliced bread vs. split bun) it’s really the ingredient that defines the thing. A hot dog is a hot dog and not a sandwich because it contains meat in the shape of a tube. Similarly, a lobster roll is neither a sandwich nor a hot dog because it contains neither sliced nor shredded fillings nor tubular meat; It contains lobster salad.
So, as it always turns out, your mother was right. It’s what’s inside that counts.
So a tuna salad sandwich is not a sandwich? It’s not like I’d eat one, but it’s still a sandwich.
I think I see your problem here.
Yeahbut, it’s not a lobster roll sandwich or a hot dog sandwich, is it?
Exceptions that prove the rule, goddammit! … or something.
Of course it can, because a hot dog is not a sandwich any more than a Reese’s is a candy bar.
Just to pour a little more gas on this fire, I’d like to mention a situation from the early 60’s in Nashville that may have occurred elsewhere since that time. Near the Vandy campus was a little “pie wagon” eatery named Jerry’s which was quite popular with students and townsfolk. One of its specialties was the wiener sandwich which consisted of two slices of white bread with a sliced-down-the-middle-lengthwise wiener that had been boiled (or grilled if the customer preferred). Toppings were your choice from an array of those plastic bottles on the counter (mustard, ketchup, mayo, some other sauce styled things) and little dishes of chopped onions, pickles, kraut, chili and maybe others I have forgotten by now, that you could help yourself to.
I voted “Yes” in the poll, just for reference, and not just out of memory of Jerry’s! 
Uh oh. I say a Reese’s is not a candy bar and a hot dog is a sandwich. I would have thought people voting that Reese’s is not a candy bar would be similar here, voting that a hot dog is a sandwich (because, technically, it is.)