word·nerd·dot·net
Hot dogs are so American they even have their own special-interest group, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, whose Web site is a cornucopia of wiener-related tidbits, such as the top-ten hot-dog consuming cities (Chicago: #3).
The NHDSC delicately refers to hot dogs being composed of "specially selected meat trimmings," i.e., not muscle, which regular meat like steaks and chops comes from, but the…uh…other stuff. H.L. Mencken once described the hot dog disdainfully (but not altogether inaccurately) as "a cartridge filled with the sweepings of abattoirs."
What hot dogs are not filled with (we hope, anyway) are dogs. So how did we get the name?
In 1852, the butcher's guild in Frankfurt-am-Main created a smoked, spiced sausage in a thin casing, dubbed a "little-dog" or "dachshund sausage" for its obvious resemblance to the low-riding German dog. (Those funny Germans!) Its other popular name was, of course, the frankfurter. Wiener comes from a similar sausage made in Vienna. Unlike the usual wursts, dachshund sausages were usually sold with bread.
In 1871, an immigrant German butcher opened the proto-hot dog stand at Coney Island, selling the dachshund sausages wrapped in a milk roll. By 1893, the portable meat-tubes were already a regular accompaniment to baseball games and other sporting events.
The popular legend on the etymology of hot dog holds that a cartoonist named T.A. "Tad" Dorgan attended a polo match in New York in 1901 where vendors roamed the aisles imploring patrons to "get your red-hot dachshund sausages." Enchanted, Dorgan drew a smiling dachshund nestled in a long bun, but couldn't spell dachshund, so he captioned it "hot dog!" and thus the food got its name. Charming, but untrue.
According to the NHDSC, historians have never been able to find this alleged cartoon, even though Dorgan's body of surviving work is vast.
The real source of hot dog: Like so many unpleasant things in America, it came from Yale. The term had been recorded there as early as 1894 as a sarcastic description of the dubiously composed sausages that vendors peddled from "dog wagons" near the dorms.
Hot dog's country cousin corn dog originated at the Cozy Dog Drive-In in Springfield, Illinois, in 1949. It was originally called the distinctly less-appetizing crusty cur.
What do the Portuguese call "hot dogs," I wonder?
Our local hot-doggery -- two Howard DeVotos with pickles, please!
Secondly, thank you for giving the schwa its do. It's a letter that I feel should be used in common English.
Thirdly: if you get a chance, see if you can't find on your radio dial (or live stream from KPBS.org) A Way With Words. It seems to be your kindred radio show.