Spuckie

Spuckies threw me the first time my Roxbury wife asked me to pick up some spuckies at the local store. I was too embarrassed to ask the guy where he kept his spuckies...Frappe was wicked natural, but she also mentioned something called Orange Jade, some kind of tonic.

The word "spuckie" originated in South Boston down at the STATUES in the Old Harbor Housing Project. These sandwiches were sold at John's Spuckie Joint on Old Colony Ave. John sold 16 oz. bottles of Orange Ade ( Nehi Orange Cola ) and 16 oz. bottles of RC Cola.

Hi, I remember spuckies too, but for some reason, I associated them with the North End of Boston. (Italian neighborhood.)And in Rhode Island a GRINDER, aka GRINDA, is the same as a hero, or spuckie, or sub sandwich. I have no idea how it got it's name. Also, do you know that a CABINET, in Rhode Island, is the equivalent of a frappe in Boston, or a milkshake in much of the rest of the US. (In Boston, a frappe(pronounced frap, not frap-pay) included ice cream, a milkshake was just milk and a flavoring agent, like coffee syrup.)(By the way, I believe that Rhode Island is the biggest consumer of coffee syrups, like Eclipse. I beleive there were/are a couple of other brands too....?Zarex, or was that just fruit syrups?)

I grew up in South Boston and only knew "subs" as spuckies. We moved to California in the early 70's and that's the last I heard of the word. Took me a while to figure out what Sub were.After reading these posts and the 1993 article I can show my wife I am not crazy or laying on the Irish Blarney...

I grew up in SE Mass (part Boston, part RI). The only coffee syrup I officially recognize is Autocrat. When people grow up here, move elsewhere and come back to visit, Autocrat is the stuff they buy to take back home with them.They also pick up some Portuguese sweet bread, Fall River chow mein and maybe some chourico (shur-eesh) or linguica.All I knew were grinders until I moved out of the area.

Sal's in Codman Sq.and Joey's at Ashmont Station made the best Spukies in Dorchester.

Back in the seventies, I worked in a warehouse in South Boston. We used to take our breaks in fast paced little neighborhood diner where the orders were announced to the kitchen via microphone. This is where I first heard the term "spuckie." In the jargon of this establishment, they would also indicate "rhe new way" or "the old way" as in "Ham and Cheese Spuckie, the old way!" I'm not sure, but I think one meant with oil, while the other meant with mayo. They also frequenty, hollared "Make it!" as kind of a shorthand for make it two.While growing up in the Berkshires, we always called them grinders or submarine sandwiches never spuckies.

Used to get spuckies at Santoro's bakery in East Cambridge. They were excellent for italian sausage with peppers and onions, linguica hot off the grill or your favorite coldcuts.

My mom and aunt (ahnt) always talk fondly about spuckies from their childhood. They grew up in East Boston (they were the only non-Italians in the neighborhood) on Brooks Street. They say the spuckies are the bread that you make a grinder on, not the sandwich itself. According to them, they were the best rolls eva!

I grew up in Eastie - what Jessica says is correct. Spuckies are technically the bread and not the whole sub (in Eastie no one ever used the word grinder). But at some places you could get the bread along with some cold cuts inside.We used to buy our spuckies at the cornah stoah and make sandwiches at home with mortadella, ham, salami, provolone and some hot gabbigol.Delicious. Jeez, I'm so happy there are some other people on earth who still know what a spucky is.

I'm with Jessica and Matt: in our Medfid house, spuckies were the roll. A really good roll -- a little smaller than a full-sized sub roll. We were Irish, but we'd get them at the Italian deli.So you'd get a sub on a spucky roll. As opposed to a sub roll, or a bulkie roll.

I just had this conversation with my husband about how growing up in Dorchester, we'd call a sub, a spuckie - he grew up in Somerville and said the word didn't exist! I googled and found this site! Thank you! I am not crazy! We always would get "spuckies" (subs) at Ted's Variety end of Rockwell St. in Dorchester. Throughout the 1960's and early 70's. 35 cents for an American and 45 cents for an italian. Oh the good ole' days!!!

I agree with many others, I grew up in East Boston and originally "spuckie" was the roll...not the sandwich.The first time my italian grandfather had a taco, he commented "I like the taste, but the shell is a pain in the ass - why dont you just throw it on a spuckie?"The best Steak and Cheese Spuckie is still available in Eastie, at Sonny Notos in Central Square. Greasy, cheesy goodness.

When i was a lad, we would get our spuckies at 4-finger Frank's at M & 2nd Streets. Then after he spent a short time in jail, for selling stolen goods, he reopened at H & 6th. It was said he lost a finger slicing meat. We would go in and ask for a large bologna and cheese with everything but fingers. He'd chase us out of the store with a knife in his hand. It was all in good fun and he always let us back in the next day. Those were the days, my friends.

how about the term american chop suey,(MACCARONI/WITH SAUCE AND HAMBURG) i moved up to burlington, vt and they someone asked me if i wanted goulash i said what the He** is that (Macaroni/with sauce and hamburg)goulash sounds aweful to me dontcha think???

I grew up in City Point, South Boston in the 1950s. We bought spuckies at a grocery store at the corner of M and third streets. As I recall, they cost 35 cents. That was the only store I can remember that offered spuckies in all of City Point.

My dad used to take me to the South End in the 70's and get spukies and the small green-tinted Coke bottles.

Wonder why we, as Bostonians, stopped calling them that.

I grew up in East Cambridge, I can remeber my Ma would send me to Santoro's bakery on Cambridge St. to pick up a dozen spuckies, but they were the rolls not a sandwich.

growing up[ in the 60s and 70s my nana used to call them spuckie roll now i tell my ten year old about spuckie rolls and he just laughs they were the best THANKS NANA

As a teen in Roxbury, my lunches most times if I had the money was a spukie sold only in Italian markets. Most all delis and markets called it subs, or hoagies, or torpedoes. In the 40s the bread was a round loaf on Italian bread sliced. With 3 meats,and cheese letters and tomatoes. WOW can taste it now. I wish they had them here in CA. I can even find the bread.

I have to agree with the many who have already posted "Spuckies" are the rolls from which the sub sandwich is made.

As I remember the Boston style sub on a spuckie included; cheese, cold-cuts, chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, chopped pickles, oil and vinegar and seasoning. The Spuckie was not cut completely through (it was cut more like a pocket which housed the meats and toppings)

My Dad was born in Eastie. He called subs "spuckies." I was born there too, and the neighborhood was very Italian at the time. I don't remember anyone but my Dad saying the word though.

We used to get the best Spuckies at Georgie Porgy's on Saratoga Street.

I lived in Roxbury, and it was a special treat when my Mom would stop at Spinelli's and get us cold cut spukies (I never heard them called subs untill I left Boston), Fanta orange tonic (aka soda), and Wise chips. The next best thing to drink was her punch made with Zarex. I miss those days. Makes me think of warm bubkies from Kasinoff's, and footlongs from Simco's.

Grew up on M Street in Southie in the 50's and 60's. We got our spuckies in a shop on Broadway near L Street. Have never since had subs that tasted that good.