Even Further Antedating of "Hot Dog"

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Tue May 3 13:27:05 UTC 2011


At 7:55 AM -0400 5/3/11, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Notable that the reporter thought the order "startling" and newsworthy; also
>that this earliest-thus-far ex. shows both current senses: the frankfurter
>on the roll and the frankfurter itself.
>
>JL

And also the scare quotes (almost) throughout--the only non-quoted
case being internal to the direct quote from the young
lad--indicating that the reporter took all these to be (relatively)
innovative uses.

LH

>
>On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 10:31 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>wrote:
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Even Further Antedating of "Hot Dog"
>>
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  I believe Barry Popik, as part of his magnificent researches into the
>>  history of food terms, has traced the term "hot dog" as far back as
>>  September 1893.  I previously found a May 1893 citation from a New
>>  Brunswick, New Jersey newspaper.  Here is an 1892 citation, also from a New
>>  Jersey newspaper:
>>
>>  Somehow or other a frankfurter and a roll seem to go right to the spot
>>  where the void is felt the most.  The small boy has got on such familiar
>>  terms with this sort of lunch that he now refers to it as "hot dog."  "Hey,
>>  Mister, give me a hot dog quick," was the startling order that a
>>  rosy-cheeked gamin hurled at the man as a Press reporter stood close by last
>>  night.  The "hot dog" was quickly inserted in a gash in a roll, a dash of
>>  mustard also splashed on to the "dog" with a piece of flat whittled stick,
>>  and the order was fulfilled.
>>
>>  Paterson (N.J.) Daily Press, Dec. 31, 1892, page 5, column 2 (Google News)
>>
>>
>>  Fred Shapiro
>>  Editor
>>  Yale Book of Quotations (Yale University Press)
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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