A romance author’s sandwich word choice has gotten her in trouble with the City of Brotherly Love.
As The Philadelphia Inquirer reports, writer B.K. Borison describes a sandwich from the Philly-based chain Wawa as a “sub” in her new book, And Now, Back to You. As anyone from Philadelphia would tell you, the correct term is actually “hoagie.”
Given these are the people who threw snowballs at Santa during an Eagles game, it should come as no surprise that the Philly faithful have responded with outrage toward Borison’s Wawa faux pas.
Borison, though, maintains she did nothing wrong. She points out that And Now, Back to You is set in Baltimore, where there are Wawa locations. In Baltimore, Borison insists, they say “sub,” not “hoagie.”
“I live in Baltimore. The book takes place in Baltimore,” Borison writes on Threads. “No one in Baltimore is calling it a hoagie GOOD NIGHT.”
Borison also issued a statement to the Inquirer, which begins, “No disrespect to the fine people of Philadelphia.”
“I fully respect and appreciate that the term hoagie is used and beloved within the area,” Borison says. “But for the purposes of my fictional novel, it makes sense for [the character] Delilah to refer to the sandwich as a sub. Context is important!”