Frankly, not THE original, just original

the original taste

X The original taste

Tim says:

“Original” has several meanings. Japanese usually use it to mean “created by a particular person, company, etc; not a copy,” but sometimes they use it with grammar that suggests a different meaning.

If you use “the” before “original”, the meaning becomes “the first or earliest.” It seems to mean that this shop’s hot dogs taste the way hot dogs tasted back when they were first invented! If you really think about it, that’s almost exactly the opposite meaning from what is intended on this sign!

To use “original” to mean “not a copy”, this would be better:

O Our own original flavor

However, perhaps to avoid confusion, American advertisers would be more likely to use the word “unique”:

O A unique flavor

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