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Trail of Hot Dog Leads Back to 1880's

Trail of Hot Dog Leads Back to 1880's
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September 27, 1988, Section A, Page 34Buy Reprints
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To the Editor:

Further on the cartoonist T.A. Dorgan (Tad) and the hot dog (''Why It's a Hot Dog,'' Sept. 14): While doing research for a book on Tad's contribution to the American vernacular, I quickly found that of the many words and phrases ascribed to him, such as ''hot dog'' (perpetuated, incidentally, by a plaque in the Times Square Nathan's), few pan out.

The earliest appearance of the phrase in Tad's work is in a cartoon panel in The New York Evening Journal of Dec. 3, 1908. In the panel, which was headed ''And They Say Things Have Changed in New York,'' there appears a sign on which is written: ''Hot Dog 5/ per copy.'' But the phrase was already current, for in The New York Sun of Aug. 12, 1906, ''hot dog sandwich'' appears in a feature article on Coney Island; and in Dialect Notes for 1900 we find: ''Hot dog . . . A hot sausage.''

There is also very good evidence for the existence of ''hot dog'' by the late 1880's, when Tad was just a tad and could hardly have drawn the cartoon that the letter writer takes to be at least the inspiration for the phrase. (Those interested in the arcana of the subject should see the May 1978 issue of Comments on Etymology.) While Tad was the popularizer, and to some extent the creator, of much in the demotic that we take for granted today, it is fair to say that his role in the dissemination of ''hot dog'' was small. LEONARD ZWILLING Madison, Wis., Sept. 15, 1988 The writer is assistant editor, Dictionary of American Regional English.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 34 of the National edition with the headline: Trail of Hot Dog Leads Back to 1880's. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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