# The Porky Truth on Hamburgers.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-porky-truth-on-hamburgers/157670
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 26, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-porky-truth-on-hamburgers/157670 "2003-02-26T16:56:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mister\_me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mister_me)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-porky-truth-on-hamburgers/157670/1 "2003-02-26T16:56:58Z")
The word ‘Hamburger’ sounds an awful lot like a slice of pork and a bun.
Why use the word ‘ham’? Shouldn’t it be a ‘beefburger’?
Anyone know how, when and why this word was started?
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-porky-truth-on-hamburgers/157670/2 "2003-02-26T17:07:12Z")
> **[Why the Name "Hamburger" If the Patty Has No Ham?](https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question425.htm)**
>
> Why is it called a "hamburger" when there is no ham in it? Find out the answer to this meat mystery here.
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### Author:  [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-porky-truth-on-hamburgers/157670/3 "2003-02-26T17:10:51Z")
Kinda related… I think you’d be interested in reading the book “Fast Food Nation”.
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### Author:  [@mister\_me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mister_me)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-porky-truth-on-hamburgers/157670/4 "2003-02-26T18:04:08Z")
Wow. Great Info - thanks!
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### Author:  [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-porky-truth-on-hamburgers/157670/5 "2003-02-26T18:19:40Z")
As the link provided by Shag suggests, German-ish meat and sausage names are based on city of origin, with an -er stuck on the end.
Hamburg gives us “hamburger”
Frankfurt gives us “frankfurter”
Vienna gives us “wiener” (Wien is the German spelling)
So, why don’t we have “berliners” or “munichers”?
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### Author:  [@that\_darn\_cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/that_darn_cat)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2003, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-porky-truth-on-hamburgers/157670/6 "2003-02-26T18:27:13Z")
**Icarus** IIRC “berliners” are what they call doughnuts in Germany. So, it would be a redundant term here.
Cheers,
tdc
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### Author:  [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2003, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-porky-truth-on-hamburgers/157670/7 "2003-02-26T18:27:45Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Icarus \*
> So, why don’t we have “berliners” or “munichers”?
There are Berliners (at least in Germany). Remember the infamous [JFK: “Ich bin ein Berliner”](http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa021700a.htm) UL!
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-porky-truth-on-hamburgers/157670/8 "2003-02-26T18:44:48Z")
Just imagine if he had made that speech in Hamburg.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-porky-truth-on-hamburgers/157670/9 "2003-02-27T05:30:21Z")
The info in the link provided by **shagnasty** would have you believe that the “hamburger” sandwich as we know it today was not around much until the 1904 World’s Fair(I know, their exact words were “Hamburgers as sandwiches became a sensation at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis).”
There were almost certainly “hamburger” sandwiches well before 1904. It’s actually a tossup as to which came first, the “Hamburg Steak” or the “Hamburger.” Cites are being discovered all the time. And dates are being pushed back.
No one knows what the connection is between the city of Hamburg and the terms “Hamburg steak” or “Hamburger.” Nothing in the literature discovered yet to prove anything. It’s probable, but far from proveable.