hot dog article in NY Times

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

For "hot dog" afficionados: 
Barry Popik has drawn my attention to a recent NY Times article on the New York hot dog:
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/dining/the-hot-dog-redefined-one-cart-at-a-time.html
 
The article does not treat the origin of the term "hot dog." But a picture accompanying the article in the above link caught my attention.  It shows a hot dog vendor, "ca. 1910," but the sign on his cart doesn't say "Hot Dogs";
it says "Hot Frankfurters."
 
The term "hot dog" had not yet become a generally accepted term (still a bit akin in its semantic nuance to "roadkill"), and vendors wishing to entice passers-by to purchase their comestible no doubt felt they would have better luck by having their signs proclaim "Hot Frankfurters." 
 
G. Cohen
 
 

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