In fact our oldest daughter, at about two, called it "choasted cheese". :)
We just butter the outsides of the bread and put it on a flat frying pan... My Mom used to use a waffle iron for it, but that was too much trouble for me. I just flatten them out with a spatula.
Oh..........and I only buy the all beef franks, because you never know what pieces parts are in the other ones. I read The Jungle at an impressionble age. :)
My theory on how hot dogs got so popular:
Americans love picnics.
Picnics attract children like they attract ants (great quantities).
Adults pay for the event.
Hot dogs are cheap, plentiful, easy to cook, and quick cooking.
Sausage is not as cheap, has more spices than a kid's mouth is used to.
Hence, hot dogs took over American summers.
I toast my bread in a toaster and then put it under the grill or even toast the bread under the grill but because my grill is electric is fairly slow.
A question in Britain gas cookers (stoves) are more popular than electric mainly because the burners are quicker and more controllerable but American recipes always seem to indicate temperatures in F so do you not have gas cookers?