if Turkey meat is called turkey, and chicken meat is called chicken, why is pig meat called ham?

[charlie and algernon]

Do people not want to order a pig club on rye? What do people have against the name pig?

[Symarip]

1. As long as it's delicious

And it is.

MMMMmmmm. Pig.

[Shell Beau]

2. Waaay deep dude!

Why do you have one bra and a pair of panties?

[redqueen]

5. Yeah, really...

if anything deserves to be a pair, it's the bra.

[charlie and algernon]

11. and if a vegetarian eats vegatables, what does a humanitarian eat?

[LisaM]

3. I was at a restaurant the other day where the special was a "pig sandwich"

but in general, it's different cuts. Ham are from the hamhocks, then you have bacon, back bacon, pork loin, pork chops, etc.

[Deja Q]

Or bacon, sausage, or even 'tofu substitute'?

"Pig" sounds too much like "cop". Who wants to eat a cop? Apart from the cop's spouse, but whatever...

[redqueen]

4. And why is steer meat called beef?

[charlie and algernon]

8. yeah dammit, I want pig on my salad before I eat a cow in a bun

[DS1]

6. because there's so many different types of pig meat

pork chops
bacon
ham
rinds

[Deep13]

7. Ham is a specific part and is salt cured.

Otherwise it is called pork the way cow or bull is called beef. It is a quirk of the English language that has to do with having two languages in use at the same time in fuedal England: Anglo-Saxon and Norman French.

[WI_DEM]

9. why is it called a hamburger when there is no ham in it?

[billyskank]

22. Maybe it was invented in Hamburg?

I don't know it's so, just a thought.

[sasquatch]

10. Pig is called pork, which is a title English Lords gave it so it could be fit for consumption

[Mutley]

12. Because there are so many different ways to eat pig meat?

Bacon, pork loin, sausage, ham etc. It's the same with beef. They don't call it cow, but a hamburger or a steak or something.

[jobycom]

13. because dead chickens and turkeys look like live chickens and turkeys

whereas muscle tissue from dead pigs and cows looks more like random lumps of gore and offal. Since "gore" and "offal" aren't appealing names, they call them by more marketable terms.

[charlie and algernon]

15. lol, well said

i think tonight I'm going to have wrapped intestines with mustard and ketchup :9

[bikebloke]

14. From Spanish - jamon

pronounced "hamon". I'm not citing anything, but it makes sense.

[DS1]

16. hamon! hamon! Have it whole wheat, or rye!

[jobycom]

17. Nah, it's supposedly an Old English word.

Maybe they have some common linguistic heritage, though.

[charlie and algernon]

18. dictionary.com lists it as an old english world

Old English: hamm
Middle English: hamme

[peruban]

19. There's a similar disparity in Spanish.

The olive tree is called "olivo" while olives are called "aceituna". :wtf:

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. With some foods, words for live/dead meats were separated after the Norman Conquest

And so cow comes from Anglo-Saxon, but beef (the dead, edible form) comes from French (the british peasants knew the cow mainly as an animal that they were not allowed to eat; the French who invaded England knew the cow mostly in its edible form, boeuf).

Deer comes from Olde English, but venison (the dead, edible form) comes from the Norman.

Olde English pig, but Norman pork.

And many other examples.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

21. To tell it apart

from bacon, pork shoulder and pork chops :)

[Dora]

23. Ham is the cut. Pork is the meat.

And we don't call cattle "beefs."

[JVS]

24. Pig meat isn't called ham. Only a special pork product is called ham

[lunatica]

25. Pigs are called pork - only their legs are called hams