According
to concessionaire Harry Stevens Harry Stevens, who first served grilled
franks on a split roll in about 1900, the franks were dubbed hot dogs by
that prolific word inventor sports cartoonist T. A. Dorgan after he
sampled them. “TAD” possibly had in mind the fact that many people
believed frankfurters were made from dog meat at the time, and no doubt
heard Stevens’ vendors crying out “Get your red hots!” on cold days.
Dorgan even drew the hot dog as a dachshund on a roll, leading the
indignant Coney Island Chamber of Commerce to ban the use of the term hot
dog by concessionaires there (they could be called only Coney Islands, red
hots and frankfurters). Hot dog! Became an ejaculation of approval by
1906, one that is still heard occasionally; hot diggity dog! was invented
during the Roaring Twenties. Dorgan at least popularized the term hot dog,
which may have been around since the late 1880s.