Chrysti The Wordsmith: Hot Dog - 1

Greetings This is Christy Smith Christie the wordsmith from Montana State University in Bozeman. Throughout the 19th century immigrant European butchers were transporting their signature sausages with them to the New World from Frankfurt Germany came the frankfurter which ultimately became the American franc the vena reversed a traditional sausage from Vienna found a new American identity as the wiener or weenie. But the American term hot dog referring to a mongrel offspring of a variety of German sausages is unlike its European counterparts. Since no one is certain of its origins most sources quote but cannot verify a colorful legend of the birth of the term hot dog. That involves a dachshund. A ballpark and a cartoonist. In the early 1900s sausages were a favorite food at New York Area baseball games. The story goes that one local vendor was hawking what he called Hot Docs who owned sausages a name suggesting the shape and German origins of the preparation. A local sports cartoonist named T A Dorgan came home from a game one day

and rendered an illustration of the vendor at his stand. Dorgan drew a scene of a barking dachshund nestled in a bun but an able to spell the German word docs and caption the cartoon. Get your hot dogs here though this makes a compelling story. The illustration that allegedly inspired the name of one of America's favorite fast foods has never surfaced. I'm Christie the wordsmith. Good day were lovers. CHRISTIE The wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.