Origins of the "Hot Dog" 4 April 2006

From: H-Net Gilded Age and Progressive Era List [H-SHGAPE@H-NET.MSU.EDU]

on behalf of Katherine Osburn [KOsburn@TNTECH.EDU]

Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 10:19 AM

To: H-SHGAPE@H-NET.MSU.EDU

Subject: Four Replies to the Hot Dog Query

(1)

I've seen several Food TV shows that give a pop-history of the hot dog,

and along with the "official" history from the National Hot Dog and

Sausage Council , I'll accept

that the 400-500 year-old dachshund sausage is probably the origin of

the "hot dog."

The Chicago Colombian Exposition made the treat popular.

Gene Preuss, PhD

University of Houston-Downtown

preuss@MAIL.H-NET.MSU.EDU

(2)

I am certain I read in a book on the Coney Island 'resorts' (published

sometime in the last 20 years) that one park, perhaps Luna Park, served

sausages called "red hots." Since they were not recognizable as any

particular kind of European sausage and given the justifiable suspicions

about the meat packing industry, the Coney Island folks nicknamed red

hots as "hot dogs." Sorry, I cannot provide a proper citation.

Harold S. Forsythe

Visiting Fellow (2005-2006)

Program in Agrarian Studies

Yale University

djackson23@NYC.RR.COM

(3)

It will always be a "Liberty Sausage" in my book, which I prefer to eat

with pickled Liberty Cabbage on top and side order of Freedom Fries.

Which is to say, I thought the "Hot dog" emerged out of WWI but maybe I

am wrong. Either way, two with mustard would be good about now.

Paul Finkelman

paul-finkelman@UTULSA.EDU

(4)

Cited From:

http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorh.htm

Hot Dog

There are many stories about the origin of the term hot dog, most of

them false. First, let's start with what we know.

The first known use of the term is in the Yale Record of 19 Oct 1895,

which contains the sentence:

They contentedly munched hot dogs during the whole service.

Two weeks earlier, that same paper recorded:

But I delight to bite the dog

When placed inside the bun.

The hot is obvious, but why dog? It is a reference to the alleged

contents of the sausage. The association of sausages and dog meat goes

back quite a bit further. The term dog has been used as a synonym for

sausage since at least 1884 and citations accusing sausage-makers of

using dog meat date to at least 1845. So hot dog is simply an extension

of the older use of dog to mean a sausage.

Perhaps the most persistent false story about the origins of hot dog is

the one concerning sausage vendor Harry Stevens, cartoonist T.A. "Tad"

Dorgan, and the Polo Grounds. According to myth, c. 1900 Stevens was

selling the new type of snack at a New York Giants game. Dorgan recorded

the event in a cartoon, labeling the sausages "hot dogs" because he

didn't know how to spell "frankfurter." Other variants have Stevens

naming the delicacy and Dorgan recording it. Unfortunately, the dates

don't work. The incident at the Polo Grounds is alleged to have happened

after the term was coined. Also no one has found the Dorgan cartoon in

question. There is a 1906 Dorgan cartoon featuring hot dogs at a

sporting event, but besides being even later, is from a bicycle race at

Madison Square Garden, not a baseball game at the Polo Grounds.

The use of hot dog to mean skilled or proficient is unrelated to the

sausage. In a bit of linguistic coincidence, this usage also appears in

the 1890s. It first appears in 1894 in the sense of a well-dressed

college student, a clothes horse. This usage is probably a variation on

the older expression putting on the dog (1871, why dog is not known, but

there is a well-established slang usage of dog meaning flashy or showy

from the 1870s). It quickly moved from this sense of suave sartorial

splendor to proficient, accomplished and eventually to its modern

association with extreme sports and risky action.

I am indebted to word sleuth Barry Popik, who has conducted most of the

relevant research on the origin of hot dog.

Checking up on Popik one stumbles across:

ADS-L -- the American Dialect Society discussion list

http://www.americandialect.org/index.php/amerdial/ads_l_the_american_dia

lect_society_email_discussion_list/

Matthew Gilmore

H-Net VP Networks / E-i-C

editor@MAIL.H-NET.MSU.EDU