Even Further Antedating of "Hot Dog"

[Ben Zimmer]

My Word Routes column today is devoted to the latest "hot dog" discoveries:

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2847



On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 8:04 AM, Ben Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>
> Barry Popik passes along further NJ citations of interest. This Morris
> fellow could be the key to the whole thing.
>
>
> --------
> From: Barry Popik <bapopik at aol.com>
> Sent: Mon, May 2, 2011 10:30 pm
> Subject: Re: Even Further Antedating of "Hot Dog"
>
> Great work! The New Jersey newspapers appear to be recent additions to
> Google News Archive. "Hot dog" is there in both Paterson, Newark, and I
> believe Atlantic City in the 1890s.
> ...
> I don't know if "Thomas Francis Xavier Morris, the 'hot dog' man, a
> German-speaking African" (see below) was first such guy.
> ...
> Barry Popik
> ...
> ...
> 2 December 1886, Paterson (NJ) Weekly Press, pg. 3, col. 3:
> As is well known he (Morris -- ed.) goes about the city supplying the
> saloons with Frankfort sausage, herring and rolls.
> ...
> ...
> Google News Archive
> 24 July 1894, Paterson (NJ) Daily Press, pg. 1, col. 5:
> GREAT CAKE WALK!
> Paterson's Colored Society In a
> Blaze of Glory.
> HOT COMPETITION AND HOT
> DOG.
> After the dance Professor White, a colored magician, was introduced. He
> ate glass and blew knots out of handkerchiefs, and then took up a
> collection to buy a hot dog from Morris, the Darktown caterer, who had
> come in during the performance and opened business in the northwest
> corner of the hall. The Professor didn't get much more than would pay
> for a dog.
> ...
> ...
> Google News Archive
> 12 November 1897, Paterson (NJ) Daily Press, pg. 1, col. 5:
> Thomas Francis Xavier Morris, the "hot dog" man, a German-speaking
> African, who was tried yesterday afternoon and convicted of keeping a
> disorderly house at 18 Warren's alley, had sentence suspended. Morris's
> previous good character standing him in good stead.
> ...
> ...
> 'PEPPER SAUCE' MORRIS DEAD; Odd Negro Character Ends in a New ...
> New York Times - Mar 14, 1907
> -Thomas Francis Xavier Morris, a negro, one of :Paterson's oddest
> characters, at the i almshouse to-day after an illness of three years
> --------
>
>
> On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 7:55 AM, 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.
> >
> > On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 10:31 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>wrote:
> > >
> > > 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)

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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