It’s interesting to note, as many have pointed out, that the term “hot-dog” used as an adjective can mean someone is a “show-off,” “grandstanding,” or “attention-seeking.” But when did this particular slang usage of “hot dog” actually begin?
Surprisingly, linguistic research traces this slang meaning back much further than you might expect. J.E. Lighter’s The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang (1997) reveals evidence of this meaning all the way back to 1894. According to Lighter, “hot dog” was originally student slang with the following definition:
hot dog n. 1. Orig. Stu[dent slang] a cocky and proficient individual, now usu. a competitive athlete; (also) one who behaves, performs, or dresses in a flashy, conceited or ostentatious manner; a mere show-off.
This dictionary entry provides some remarkably early examples of “hot dog” in action. The first recorded uses date back to the 1890s, showing that this slang term was already in circulation at the turn of the 20th century. Here are some of the earliest examples cited:
[First four cited occurrences:] 1894 in Comments of Ety[mology] (Nov. 1995) 19: Two Greeks a “hot-dog” freshman sought./The Clothes they found, their favor bought. 1897 in Comments of Ety. (Nov. 1995) 18: “Brown’s a hot dog, isn’t he?” “Yes, he has so many pants.” 1899 Kountz Baxter’s Letters 34: A Messe de Mariage seems to be some kind of a wedding march, and a bishop, who is a real hot dog won’t issue a certificate unless the band plays the Messe. 1900 D[ialect] N[otes] II 42: {College slang:} hot dog…One very proficient at certain things….A conceited person.
The snippet “Brown’s a hot dog, isn’t he?” comes from Wrinkle, a University of Michigan student publication from 1897. This early example, presented as a brief joke in dialogue form, underscores how embedded the term was in student vernacular at the time. The 1894 citation, “Two Greeks a ‘hot-dog’ freshman sought,” is also attributed to Wrinkle, though this instance is harder to verify online.
Further solidifying the early usage, E.H. Babbitt’s College Words and Phrases (1900) in Dialect Notes provides multiple definitions for “hot-dog,” showcasing the evolving shades of meaning:
hot-dog, n. 1. One very proficient at certain things. 2. A hot sausage. 3. A hard student. 4. A conceited person.
Interestingly, just a few years prior, in 1896, Willard C. Gore in The Inlander used “hot-dog” in a purely positive sense, meaning “good” or “superior,” indicating a slightly different, perhaps earlier, connotation:
hot-dog. Good, superior. “He has made some hot dog drawings for ——.”
While the “frankfurter” meaning of “hot dog” also emerged around 1895, etymologists like Lighter suggest that the “show-off” slang sense might have a separate origin. The link between “sausage” and “dog” as a derogatory term for sausage ingredients dates back even further to the 1840s, as seen in this quote from D. Corcoran in 1846:
“MEM.—New Orleans is a wery wile, wicious place : they kills men there with Bowie-knives and dogs with pisoned sassengers. They berries the former holesale in the swamp, and retails the latter, tails and all, as sassenger meat. It’s a ‘orrible state of society!”
Similarly, Richard Jackson’s 1864 song lyrics play on the questionable contents of sausages, using “dog” in a similar vein:
Un sasage ish goot, bolonie of course, Oh where oh where can he be?/ Dey makes um mit dog und dey makes em mit horse, I guess dey makes em mit he.”
Farmer & Henley’s Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present (1890–1891) further cement this association, listing “Dogs” as university slang for sausages, alongside other colorful terms like “BAGS OF MYSTERY” and “CHAMBERS OF HORRORS.”
This evidence suggests that “hot-dog” as “show-off” is nearly as old as “hot-dog” referring to a frankfurter, and possibly developed independently. Dave Wilton, in a 2009 Word Origins post, proposes a compelling theory: the slang meaning might be a variation of the older phrase “putting on the dog.”
This usage is probably a variation on the older expression putting on the dog. From Lyman H. Bagg’s 1871 Four Years At Yale:
Dog, style, splurge. To put on dog, is to make a flashy display, to cut a swell.
From this sense of flashy style and extravagance, the meaning of “hot dog” likely evolved to encompass proficiency and accomplishment, eventually arriving at its modern association with extreme sports and daring actions. The journey of “hot dog” from student slang to a widely recognized term highlights the fascinating evolution of language and the often-surprising longevity of slang terms.
