Why Is A Hot Dog Called A Glizzy?

It's not like we needed another way to refer to hot dogs; while too iconic to be called a sandwich, the long list of names already includes frank, footlong, link, wiener, and now — glizzy. It's easy enough to trace the origin of some of these names. Frank and wiener both refer to places (Frankfurt and Vienna, respectively) where sausages seem to have originated. Glizzy has a more colorful origin, making its way from violent street slang all the way to "Glizzy Lizzy," a 2023 contestant on Nathan's annual hot dog eating competition whose stage name helped repopularize calling a hot dog a glizzy. Legendary hot dog-eating champ Joey "Jaws" Chestnut is also often referred to as a "glizzy gladiator."

The word "glizzy" has been around for a while, appearing in hip-hop lyrics from the early 2000s, generally in reference to guns. The trend of using it to refer to hot dogs seemingly started in Washington, DC., and went viral in the early 2020s amidst other pandemic-induced online creativity. Now, there's even a New York hot dog chain called Glizzy's NYC. The word's journey from hip-hop to hot dog is an interesting look at how regional slang becomes mainstream, and proof that one can never have too many ways to refer to a hot dog.

The word glizzy was actually first used to refer to handguns; it started with a play on the gun brand GLOCK, made slang with an "izzy" suffix. This izzle-speak — attaching "izzy" or "izzle" to the latter half of words — was popularized by rap icon and surprise foodie Snoop Dogg. Once the meaning of the word shifted to sausage, however, the artist began to toy with the idea of a hot dog brand called Snoop Doggs, which, if it ever happens would pair nicely with his flavor of Rap Snack, O.G. Cheddar Bar-B-Que.

The practice of using glizzy to mean handgun has been popular in Washington, D.C.'s Metro area since at least the early 2000s, and it appeared in several rap song lyrics from the period. Then came rapper $hy Glizzy, head of the rap group Glizzy Gang, who also hails from the area. While the musician uses the firearm meaning of the word for his nom de plume, several members of the online community who had only heard glizzy in relation to hot dogs wondered why the rapper had named himself after the food. The comparison between a gun and the iconic snack seems to come from the elongated length of the hot dog, which is similar to a handgun's extended magazine. Thus, the word glizzy crossed over from guns to grub and began to be used to refer to hot dogs on the east coast from D.C. before spreading to wider audiences.

As etymologies have evolved, more people now associate glizzy with a hot dog, and one individual who definitely named themselves after the food is Elizabeth "Glizzy Lizzy" Salgado. Hailing from California, she took part in Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Competition in July 2023. With a finishing count of 4.25 hot dogs eaten in 10 minutes, she didn't break any hot dog-eating records. However, her moniker's popularity spread like wildfire. Following the wave from the last few years of viral TikTok #glizzy trends which involved eating hot dogs as quickly or creatively as possible, Glizzy Lizzy the competitive hot dog eater was an instant hit.

It appears that Salgado has truly earned the name, and she was called Glizzy Lizzy even before she got into competitive eating. The title was given to her by her coworkers based on how fond she is of hot dogs. Competitive eating is something that Salgado wasn't initially planning on doing regularly and taking part in Nathan's iconic competition started as a bucket list entry. 

However, she now plans on competing in upcoming hot dog eating competitions and training all through the year for them. Before competing in the main event held annually on Independence Day at the original Nathan's Famous location on Coney Island, Glizzy Lizzy took part in the competition's qualifying round in Pleasanton, California, where she gobbled an impressive 8.75 glizzies in June 2023. Then in July 2024, she competed in the actual contest, placing thirteenth with 5.5 dogs, which is far more than we could scarf down in 10 minutes.