Usage 1: Today's word has been subjected to some heavy linguistic artillery. First, it was reanalyzed from hamburg+er (see Etymology) to ham+burger while at the same time undergoing clipping to simply "burger." The reanalysis as a compound allowed substitutions for the misperceived "ham", e.g. "cheeseburger," "fishburger," "turkeyburger," ad infinitum. The fact that hamburgers have never been made of ham seems to have had no impact on the linguistic processes.

Suggested usage: Today's term applies metaphorically only to unpleasant circumstances, "His face looked like hamburger after the fight." The thought does, however, provide clear motivation for avoiding fights. Of course, we must be careful to call the people from Hamburg "Hamburgians," even if it does mean forcing a French suffix onto a German stem.

Etymology: The Turkish tribes known at the Tatars, who moved across the Russia in the 13th and 14th centuries, shredded poor quality meat, mixed it with spices and ate it raw. "Beefsteak Tatar" became famous, though, in the German port city of Hamburg. Its famous 'Hamburg steak' was brought to the US in the 19th century, where it was generally cooked. The term 'Hamburger steak' first appeared in the Walla Walla, Washington newspaper in 1889. Hamburger simply means "from Hamburg" in German but, when Ray Kroc launched the MacDonald's hamburger chain in 1955, selling hamburger sandwiches for 15¢ apiece, the word quickly assumed the meaning "from the US." (Thanks to Abdel Shilbaya of Warrensburg, Missouri for today's appetizing word.)