Okay. Itâs lunch. Youâre hungry. You slap together a sandwich. Now itâs decision timeâhow are you cutting it?
Straight down the middle? Diagonally? Not cutting it at all?
Turns out, that small moveâhow you slice a sandwichâmight say something about how your brain tends to work. Not a full-on diagnosis or anything dramatic, but⊠something.
I didnât believe it either, at first. But I came across a small behavioral study that looked at everyday choicesâlike how people pour cereal, fold laundry, or yes, cut sandwiches. And the results were kind of weirdly specific.

The Diagonal Cut People
If you go corner to corner, making that neat little triangle, youâre not alone. A lot of people do it. Itâs kind of the stylish way. Some folks say it looks more appetizing, some say it just feels better in the hands.
But hereâs the part researchers noticed: People who cut their sandwiches diagonally were more likely to do better on creativity-based exercises. Stuff like finding multiple uses for one object, or solving puzzles that didnât have clear instructions.
Nothing genius-level, but stillâinteresting.
The idea is that diagonal-cutters might have brains that naturally lean toward open-ended thinking. They might be more comfortable improvising, or flipping the script when a problem feels rigid.
Itâs a small thing, but it shows up again and again in these kinds of studies. People who do things differentlyâeven tiny thingsâtend to see the world a little differently too.
And the Straight-Cut Folks?
People who cut sandwiches straight down the middle? They were more likely to score well on tasks that had rules or clear answers. Logic puzzles. Math-type problems. Stuff where thereâs one right solution and the goal is to get there efficiently.
These folks often mentioned liking symmetry, or just wanting the sandwich to feel âbalanced.â Some said they didnât even think about it. Itâs just what theyâve always done.
And maybe thatâs part of it, tooâsome brains lean toward habit and order, others veer into improvisation and variety.
Neither is better. Just different flavors of thought.
What About People Who Donât Cut at All?
Thatâs a category too. Some people donât bother slicing their sandwich. They fold it. Eat it whole. Bite right in.
In the study, these folks were often more likely to go with the flow in general. They didnât mind messiness. They didnât need everything to look a certain way.
Some scored high in adaptive thinkingâmeaning they adjust quickly when plans change.
One woman said, âIf Iâm in a hurry, I donât care about the cut. I just eat.â
Fair enough.
So Does It Actually Matter?
Not in any life-altering way. Nobodyâs personality should be judged by a lunch. But thatâs not really the point.
This stuff is more about awareness. We all have patterns. Little routines we donât question. The way we stir coffee. The side of the bed we sleep on. The order we put our shoes on.
And sometimes those little things echo something deeper. Theyâre not random. Theyâre personal.
So maybe the way you cut your sandwich says something. Or maybe it doesnât. But itâs kind of fun to think about.
And if it gets you to pause for two seconds and look at a boring habit in a new wayâhonestly, thatâs already something.