meaning - What does the term "hot dog lawyer" mean?


What does the term "hot dog lawyer" mean? I've heard this term quite a few times, and I am not sure what does the term "hot dog" as an adjective describe?


For example:



“And they usually don't have a hot-dog lawyer waiting for them when they arrive at the station.”



From the book: 'Death by Sudoku' by Kaye Morgan



Sally Yates is a hotdog lawyer who never should have been the acting attorney general.



Joe diGenova, on Fox News (with transcript of video).



He was a hot-dog lawyer from Dallas with one of those seven-figure houses on Truman Annex.



From the novel 'Air Dance Iguana' by Tom Corcoran



Answer




hot-dog lawyer



(or 'hot dog' or 'hotdog', there's no difference here) is not a lawyer that eats hotdogs or represents hotdogs in court or is made of hotdog.


This is a very figurative use of the word 'hotdog'. Here it means someone who shows off or is self-aggrandizing in an ostentatious manner.


Of course, the first meaning of 'hot dog' as a synonym for frankfurter-style sausage (from ~1890), is not particularly literal already. Its origin is obscure, but probably a glib humorously intended coinage, possibly implying the source of the meat. In contemporary American usage, that connection is barely noticed. Puns involving it are rarely so literal and usually involve a dog on the beach rather than in a slaughterhouse.


In the end, there is nothing special about 'lawyer' here. You can have a hot dog fighter pilot, a hot dog wind surfer, a hot dog salesperson, anyone who could be said to be showing off their skills and maybe a little out of control.


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