a hamburger by any other name,
reading Jeffrey Archer's "The Prodigal Daughter":
Jessie began to study the menu on the blackboard,
"Salisbury steak?" she enquired,
"A hamburger by any other name," said Richard
She laughed and he was surprised that she had picked up his out-of-context quotation so quickly.
question: I do not pick up the quotation, any cutural background about "a hamburger by any other name"?
thank you for your help and your time

Question

Answer

The reference is to the quote "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," from Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet.' The line is part of an argument that the names of things don't matter, so I think Jeff is totally right. : )

Answer

I don't know of any cultural reference, but "by any other name" just means that, in this case, "salisbury steak" is just a fancy way of saying "hamburger".

Salisbury steak = hamburger
Sanitation engineer = trash collector
etc

You might use "by any other name" when someone uses an uppity-sounding word to describe something common.

Answer

As Dave pointed out, it's a Shakespeare reference: "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (Romeo and Juliet).  You'll be surprised by how often native English speakers, especially educated ones, quote Shakespeare.

Basically, he's saying that a Salisbury steak is a hamburger patty, and is in turn surprised that she recognised the Shakespeare quote.

Answer

Evan Esar - A hamburger by any other name costs twice as much.

Groucho Marx also uses this line...