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<   No. 4355   2020-10-02   >

Comic #4355

1 Mate: No sign of the pirate ship Allosaurus in Baracoa, cap’n! They’re unlikely to be in Cuba!
2 Ponsonby: Very well, we leave immediately!
3 Mate: Begging your pardon, cap’n, but it’d be much better if we wait a couple of hours.
4 Ponsonby: For the tide?
4 Mate: No, so we can get Cubano sandwiches for lunch.

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Sandwich experts will no doubt have spotted the two glaring inaccuracies in this comic already.

Firstly, Cubanos, or Cuban sandwiches, were most probably invented in Florida by Cuban immigrants, not in Cuba itself. And according to this blog post at least, the things known as "Cuban sandwiches" are not generally available in Cuba. So finding some in Baracoa might be a problem.

Secondly, the name "sandwich" itself comes from John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who, at least according to popular legend which may have some truth to it, liked to have his meat served between slices of bread so that he could eat it without utensils and without getting his fingers greasy while playing cards. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the first known citation of the word "sandwich" used in this context as the year 1762, which students of this comic will know is 110 years after the Pirates theme is set.

So we have both a geographical error and an anachronism.

Wait... three glaring inaccuracies! Cubanos are usually called either "Cubanos" or "Cuban sandwiches", not "Cubano sandwiches" as the Mate says in the comic. I wrote it that way because I wanted the word "Cubano" in there, but then I wondered if everyone would know what the heck that was or not, so added "sandwiches" as a qualifier so people could get the joke even if they didn't know what a Cubano was.

So we have a geographical error, an anachronism, and a linguistic error!

Which one bothers you most?

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My comics: Irregular Webcomic! | Darths & Droids | Eavesdropper | Planet of Hats | The Dinosaur Whiteboard | mezzacotta
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