Why Are Wieners Called Hot Dogs?
Why Are Wieners Called Hot Dogs? In German speaking countries, except Austria, hot dog sausages are called Wiener or Wiener Würstchen (Würstchen means “little sausage”), in differentiation to the original pork only mixture from Frankfurt.
This name dates back to the 17th century when a sausage maker referred to his sausage as a “little dachshunds” or little dogs. The name evolved from there.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, people commonly believed that the thin sausages contained actual dog meat!
Probably the wiener got its nickname of “hot dog” because of the fancied resemblance of this spicy sausage to the long-bodied dachshund dog, and because it is usually served hot.
Here is the story of how the hot dog got in the bun. A hot dog vendor in St. Louis in 1904 didn’t want to serve his sausages on plates, yet his customers could not eat them piping hot with their bare fingers.
The vendor first tried giving his customers gloves to hold the hot dogs, but too many people walked off with the gloves. He finally solved the problem by serving his hot dogs in a sliced roll.