Why is it called a hot dog?
No one knows for sure why sausages in buns are called hot dogs. The name likely came from 19th-century American slang suggesting sausages were made from dog meat, as a joke about their mysterious contents.
German immigrants brought frankfurters and wieners, named after Frankfurt and Vienna, to the United States in the 1800s. They were sold from street carts, and some vendors began serving them in soft buns so customers did not burn their hands. Dachshund sausage, comparing the long sausage to the long dog breed, was another early nickname.
College students in the 1890s used the term hot dog in magazines, often joking about the meat's origins. A popular story says cartoonist Tad Dorgan coined the term at a New York Giants baseball game around 1901 because he could not spell dachshund, but historians found the term was used earlier, and no such cartoon has been found.
An American icon
Hot dogs became a staple at baseball games, fairs and cookouts. Americans eat billions each year. The famous Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest is held every July 4 at Coney Island in New York.
Did You Know?
The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council has an official etiquette guide, which advises adults not to put ketchup on hot dogs.