Page "Submarine sandwich" Paragraph 8

Another explanation is that the word " hoagie " arose in the late 19th-early 20th century, among the Italian community in South Philadelphia, when " on the hoke " was a slang used to describe a destitute person.

Deli owners would give away scraps of cheeses and meats in an Italian bread-roll known as a " hokie ", but the Italian immigrants pronounced it " hoagie ".