"American Taco"?

[Wilson Gray]

When I was a kid in Saint Louis, a distinction between "frankfurter"
and "weiner" was maintained, at least among blacks. Relatively long
and thin wieners were used in hotdogs, whereas relatively short and
thick, Hebrew-Union-looking frankfurters were used in "frank(furter)
sandwiches." In both cases, a hotdog bun was used as the bread.

-Wilson

On 5/2/07, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "American Taco"?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I know that Barry and others have touched on this point, but Rick's phrase "hot dog on a bun" mementarily unsettled me. To me, "hot dog" is the name of the sandwich itself, not the principal internal component--so I found myself envisioning a sausage (I'd call it a wiener or weenie) inside a bun inside a bun, a compound sandwich!
>
> Isoglosses have probably been identified for wiener/weenie/frankfurter/frank/hotdog, but I wonder if they are current? Among 20-year-olds in Georgia, notwithstanding the Oscar Meyer jingle, the word "wiener" seems to be generally regarded as obscene, while "weenie" refers only to a dorkish person.
>
> --Charlie
> _____________________________________________________________
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Tue, 1 May 2007 22:07:37 -0700
> >From: Rick Castello <rick at PUNK.NET>
> >Subject: "American Taco"?
> >
> >     My wife just shared with me the term "American Taco", as used to describe a hot dog on a bun.  Anyone else seen or heard this?
> >
> >     -Rick
>
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