A hot dog is a sandwich.

#1: Hot dogs stand up to the English language’s test for sandwiches.

You can’t fight city hall, or the dictionary. Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines a sandwich as “two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between.” And while describing a wiener as “filling” might seem a bit awkward, it is the generic nature of the term “filling” that allows for such wondrous variety in sandwiches. “Filling” means freedom – the freedom to make bread a most versatile canvas – for peanut butter, egg salad, and even hot dogs.

#2: Hot dogs and sandwiches are the same in form and function.

Hot dogs and sandwiches are complete meals delivered by means of bread, unified in their portability and relatively lack of mess (well, as long as you stay away from chilidogs). More than allowing diners to pack several food groups into a compact unit, sandwiches are vehicles of self-expression. Are you a minimalist or maximalist? A non-conformist or a traditionalist? The hot dog is but one of the many sandwich-y ways we express personality through cuisine.

#3: Sandwich enthusiasts have dubbed hot dogs with eternal sandwich-hood.

I defy our readers to show me the man who loves sandwiches more than "Scanwiches" founder Jon Chonko, a New York graphic designer so devoted to the beauty of lunchtime delights, he’s dedicated years to scanning them before he eats them. More than preserving these sandwiches for posterity, scanwiches brings clarity to the question of whether hot dogs are sandwiches by featuring in its catalogue a multitude of bread-wrapped links, from the humble frankfurter with onion and ketchup to the bold Italian sausage with peppers. If ia hot dog is sandwich enough for Jon, it should be sandwich enough for us all.

A hot dog is a hot dog.

#1: Hot dogs and sandwiches have their own distinct histories.

Hot dogs hail from the sausage-loving societies of central Europe. While there is some controversy around whether the first hot dog recipe was perfected in Vienna (Wein), Austria or Frankfurt, Germany, there is no confusing the hot dog’s decidedly Germanic origins with the English origins of the sandwich. While the frankfurter celebrated the ancient joy of stuffing innards with meat, the sandwich’s invention was purely utilitarian, serving as a frequent meal solution for the gambling-addicted Earl of Sandwich, who could not be bothered to leave a gambling hall to dine.

#2: Sandwiches and hot dogs are always separate on restaurant menus.

Menus provide a great reference point for where the food industry stands on the question of whether a hot dog is a sandwich. All great American cafes offer a variety of sandwiches, and the “hot dog sandwich” is conspicuously missing from most of them. American staples like Denny’s and Applebee’s (which liberally includes tacos in its list of sandwiches) sell loads of sandwiches, but no hot dogs. And if the absence of hot dogs from the sandwich sections of iconic American chain restaurants is not enough to convince you, let’s see what the sandwich aficionados at the world-famous Carnegie Deli have to say about the matter. You guessed it – one very long section for sandwiches, and one much shorter section for frankfurters (because hot dogs are not sandwiches).

#3: The people have spoken.

Whatever the culinary élite may have to say about the definition of a sandwich, terms are ultimately defined by the people who use them. A 2016 poll found that 57% of Americans do not believe that hot dogs are sandwiches. America has spoken: sandwiches are groovy, but the hot dog is sacrosanct.