Random Commuter Observation - Part Two

A question that has frequently occured to me as I hoofed along the streets of Dee Cee: Just what the hell is a "half-smoke"?

Specifically, why half-smoke? Are we talking left versus right end? Or is it a ventral versus dorsal thing? Or perhaps the "half" is a temporal reference - if so, then what is done to the thing for the remaining "half" of the cooking time? Boiling? Microwave? Placement in the vendor's pants?

The world wonders.

"Oh, All Right, I'll Do It Myself" Update: From the deafening sound of comment silence, it appears nobody has any idea what I'm talking about. This is understandable, because at least according to Wikipedia, the half-smoke is a localized Dee Cee phenomenon:

A half-smoke is a type of sausage found in Washington, D.C., United States and the surrounding region. A half-smoke is slightly larger than than a regular hot dog, spicier and with more coarsely ground meat; it is usually grilled but can be found steamed. It is commonly made of beef, pork or a combination of the two, and is served on a hot dog bun. In 2000, The Washington Post Magazine named the half-smoke as the regional food in the Washington Dish Contest. Due to their size, they are often mistaken for the Polish sausage kielbasa.

The article goes on to note that nobody seems to know where the name came from:

The etymology of "half-smoke" is unclear as the sausage is not smoked.[1] One possible explanation is that many places cut the sausage in half when grilling, or that many half-smokes are 50:50 beef and pork (though 100% beef half-smokes are common). In the January 26, 2007 edition of the Washington City Paper, reporter Dave Jamieson examined the origins of the half-smoke.

The "original" half smoke is considered to be the sausage distributed by D.C.'s Briggs and Co. meatpackers, originating in around 1950, though Raymond Briggs started selling his half-smokes circa 1930. Eventually Briggs was sold to another meat distributor, where the quality of the meat allegedly was eroded. Today, the general consensus of the finest half-smoke is the Weenie Beenie in the Shirlington neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, or Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington.[2]

Go figure.