# Will they laugh at you if you order a bologna sandwich in Italy?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-they-laugh-at-you-if-you-order-a-bologna-sandwich-in-italy/39305>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 1, 2000, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-they-laugh-at-you-if-you-order-a-bologna-sandwich-in-italy/39305 "2000-11-01T22:12:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-they-laugh-at-you-if-you-order-a-bologna-sandwich-in-italy/39305/1 "2000-11-01T22:12:47Z")

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OK, so that isn’t my question.

My question is how did the bologna (the sandwich meat) get its name?

Is there any connection to the town (I assume it’s a town, but come to think of it, I don’t know) in Italy?

Or just coincidence?

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**Author:** ![etgaw1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@etgaw1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etgaw1)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-they-laugh-at-you-if-you-order-a-bologna-sandwich-in-italy/39305/2 "2000-11-01T22:15:03Z")

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I don’t know but they don’t like it if you ask for a ham and cheese sandwich in a Jewish Deli.

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**Author:** ![Suo\_Na](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@Suo\_Na](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suo_Na)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-they-laugh-at-you-if-you-order-a-bologna-sandwich-in-italy/39305/3 "2000-11-01T22:41:32Z")

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Bologna is a largish city in northern Italy. Umberto Eco teaches at the university there. That’s all I know.

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**Author:** ![Ankh\_Too](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Ankh\_Too](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ankh_Too)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-they-laugh-at-you-if-you-order-a-bologna-sandwich-in-italy/39305/4 "2000-11-01T23:03:51Z")

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The city of Bologna is famous for several things, one of which is the sausage called mortadela. If you look at it, it often resembles what we (in the benighted States) call bologna, with the addition of white areas of fat strewn throughout the sausage. Sometimes there are also pistachios inside. It’s a very finely minced sausage with the texture similar to bologna. I think that our bologna was derived from mortadela, but much more tame and “watered-down”.

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**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-they-laugh-at-you-if-you-order-a-bologna-sandwich-in-italy/39305/5 "2000-11-01T23:07:53Z")

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I think those are green peppercorns, not pistachios. They are hot, anyway, and taste like pepper.