In its country, Germany, the “frank-furter” was the name for the hot dog. It came from Frankfurt, a Germany city. In the 1860s, people sold frankfurters in the United States for the first time. But Americans didn't say “frank-frters.” They said “dacshund sausages.” A dacshund is a dog from Germany with a very long body and short legs. “Dacshund sausage” was a good name for the frankfrter.
Dacshund sausages first became popular in New York. People sold them at baseball games. The men with the sausages walkde up and down. They shouted, “Get your dacshund sausages! Get your hot dacshund sausages here!” People ate the sausages in buns, a kind of bread.
One day, in 1906, a newspaper cartoonist went to a baseball game. He saw the men with the dacshund sausages. Then he got a good idea for a cartoon. The next day at the newspaper office he drew a bun with a dacshund in it - not a dacshund sausages, but a real dacshund. He didn't know the spelling of “dacshund”. So under the cartoon he wrote “Get your hot dogs!” The cartoon was a sensation, and “hot dog” became the new name.
At a baseball game today, you can see a lot of hot dog sellers. They walk up and down. They shout, “Get your hot dogs here! Get your hot dogs here!”
