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Diner lingo
Diner Lingo is a kind of verbal shorthand used by cooks and chefs in diners and diner-style restaurants, as well as Waffle Houses.
HistoryThe origin of the lingo is unknown, but there is evidence suggesting it may have been used by African-American waiters as early as the 1870s and 1880s. Many of the terms used are lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek and some are a bit racy or ribald, but are helpful mnemonic devices for short-order cooks and staff. Diner slang was most popular from the 1920s to the 1970s. Today, diner lingo is not as prevalent as it was in the past because the rise of the fast food industry has in large part replaced the diner. Also, the use of computerized order systems has eliminated the need for wait staff to "call" orders. However, the use of restaurant diner lingo is still present in small towns as well as retro-style restaurants and is a colorful part of Americana. Restaurant/Diner Lingo ListA blonde with sand: coffee with cream and sugar A Murphy: a potato, so called because of their association with the Irish diet of potatoes, Murphy being a common Irish name A spot with a twist: a cup of tea with lemon A stack of Vermont: pancakes with maple syrup An M.D.: a Dr Pepper Adam & Eve on a raft: two poached eggs on toast Adam's Ale: water All hot: baked potato Angel: sandwich man Angels on horseback: oysters rolled in bacon on toast B & B: bread and butter B.L.T.: bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich Baled hay: shredded wheat Balloon juice/Belch water/Alka Seltzer: seltzer, soda water Beef Stick: bone Billiard: buttermilk Birdseed: breakfast Black and white: chocolate soda with vanilla ice cream Bloodhounds in the Hay: hot dogs and sauerkraut Bloody: very rare Blowout patches: pancakes Blue-plate special: a dish of meat, potato, and vegetable served on a plate (usually blue) sectioned in three parts. This can also refer to the daily special. Boiled leaves: Tea Bow-wow/Bun pup/Tube steak/Groundhog: a hot dog Bowl of red: a bowl of chili con carne, so called for its deep red color. Break it and shake it: add egg to a drink Breath: onion Bridge/Bridge party: four of anything (from bridge the card game) Bronx vanilla/Halitosis/Italian Garlic: garlic Bubble Dancer: dishwasher Bucket of cold mud: a bowl of chocolate ice cream Bullets/Whistleberries/Saturday night: Baked beans, so called because of the supposed flatulence they cause. Burn one: put a hamburger on the grill Burn one, take it through the garden and pin a rose on it: hamburger with lettuce, tomato and onion Burn the British: toasted English muffin C.J. Boston: cream cheese and jelly Cackle fruit/Cackleberries: eggs Canned cow: evaporated milk Check the ice: look at the pretty girl who just came in Checkerboard: Waffle Chewed with Fine Breath: hamburger with onions China: rice pudding Chopper: a table knife Clean up the kitchen: hash Coney Island chicken/Coney Island bloodhound/Coney Island: a hot dog, so called because hot dogs were popularly associated with the stands on Coney Island. Cow feed: a salad Cow paste/Skid Grease/Axle grease: butter Cowboy Western: a western omelette or sandwich Creep: Draft beer Crowd: three of anything (possibly from the saying "Two's company, three's a crowd") Customer will take a chance: hash Deadeye: poached egg Dough well done with cow to cover: bread and butter Drag one through Georgia: cola with chocolate syrup, probably a reference to the fact that the headquarters of Coca-Cola is in Atlanta, Georgia, and dragging anything is likely to get it muddy, i.e., darker, which would be the same result as adding chocolate syrup. Carbonated drinks such as Coca-Cola were originally served by pouring concentrated syrup into a glass and adding soda water, so they could be made to whatever strength the customer preferred. Draw one/A cup of mud: a cup of coffee Draw one in the Dark/Flowing Mississippi: a black coffee Dog and maggot: cracker and cheese Dog biscuit: a cracker Dough well done with cow to cover: buttered toast Dusty Miller: chocolate pudding, sprinkled with powdered malt Eighty-six: "Do not sell to that customer" or "The kitchen is out of the item ordered". "To remove an item from an order or from the menu". Article 86 of the New York State Liquor Code defines the circumstances in which a bar patron should be refused alcohol or '86ed'. The Soup Kitchen Theory: during the depression of the 1930s, soup kitchens would often make just enough soup for 85 people. If you were next in line after number 85, you were '86ed'. The Eight Feet By Six Feet Theory: A coffin is usually eight feet long and is buried six feet under. Once in your coffin you've been 'eight by sixed', which shortens to '86ed'. Chumley's Theory: Many years ago, Chumley's Restaurant, at 86 Bedford Street in Greenwich Village, New York City, had a custom of throwing rowdy customers out the back door. During Prohibition, Chumley's was a speakeasy owned by Leland Stanford Chumley. When the cops were on the way, someone would shout "86," and they would all exit through the back door. Eve with a lid on: apple pie, referring to the biblical Eve's tempting of Adam with an apple. The "lid" is the pie crust Eve with a moldy lid: apple pie with a slice of cheese Fifty-five: a glass of root beer First lady: spareribs, a pun on Eve's being made from Adam's spare rib. Fish eyes or Cat's eyes: tapioca pudding Flop two: two fried eggs, over easy Flop two, over easy: fried egg flipped over (carefully!) and the yolk is still very runny. That means the other side is cooked for a few seconds Flop two, over medium: turning over a fried egg and the yolk begins to solidify Flop two, over hard: fried egg, flipped and cooked until the yolk is solid all the way through Fly cake or Roach cake: raisin cake or huckleberry pie Foreign Entanglements: plate of spaghetti Frenchman's delight: pea soup Frog sticks: french fries Fry two/Let the sun shine: 2 fried eggs with unbroken yolks GAC: Grilled American cheese sandwich. This was also called "jack" (from the pronunciation of "GAC") Gallery: booth Gravel train: sugar bowl Graveyard stew: milk toast; buttered toast, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, and dropped into a bowl of warm milk Hail: ice Heart Attack on Rack: biscuits and gravy Hemorrhage: tomato ketchup Hen Fruit: Eggs, typically boiled High and dry: a plain sandwich without butter, mayonnaise, or lettuce Hockey puck: a hamburger, well done Hold the hail: no ice Honeymoon salad: lettuce alone Hot top: hot chocolate Hounds on an Island: franks and beans Houseboat/Dagwood Special: a banana split made with ice cream and sliced bananas Hug one/Squeeze one: a glass of orange juice Ice the rice: rice pudding with ice cream In the alley: served as a side dish In the weeds: a waitress/cook that can't keep up with the tables. Refers back to chefs' military roots, where being in the weeds would cause your army to be slaughtered. Irish turkey: corned beef and cabbage Jack Benny: cheese with bacon (named after the famed comedian) Java/Joe: coffee Keep off the grass: no lettuce Ladybug: fountain man Let it walk/Go for a walk/On wheels/Give it shoes: an order to go, a takeaway order Life preservers/Sinkers: doughnuts Lighthouse: bottle of ketchup Looseners: prunes, so called because of their supposed laxative effect. Love Apples: tomatoes Lumber: A toothpick Machine Oil: syrup Magoo: custard pie Maiden's delight: cherries, so called because "cherry" is a slang term for the maidenhead, hymen Marry: bring items together for cleaning up, i.e. marry the salt and pepper. Mayo: mayonnaise Mike and Ike/The twins: salt and pepper shakers Million on a platter: a plate of baked beans Mississippi Mud/Yellow paint: mustard Moo juice/Cow juice/Baby juice/Sweet Alice: milk Mully/Bossy in a bowl: beef stew, so called because "Bossy" was a common name for a cow. Mystery in the alley: a side order of hash Nervous pudding: gelatin No cow: without milk Noah's boy: a slice of ham (Ham was Noah's second son) Noah's boy on bread: a ham sandwich Noah's boy with Murphy carrying a wreath: ham and potatoes with cabbage On a Rail fast, as in "Fries, on a rail!" On the hoof: any kind of meat, cooked rare One from the Alps: a Swiss cheese sandwich One on the City: a glass of water Paint a bow-wow red: a hot dog with ketchup Paint it red: put ketchup on an item Pair of drawers: two cups of coffee Pigs in a blanket: a ham (sometimes a sausage) sandwich Pin a rose on it: add onion to an order Pittsburgh: something burning, toasted or charred, so called because of the smokestacks once evident in Pittsburgh, a coal-producing and steel-mill city. In meat cookery, this refers to a piece of meat charred on the outside while still red within. Pope Benedict: an eggs benedict, but fit for a pope Put a hat on it: add ice cream Put out the lights and cry: an order of liver and onions, "Lights" is a term sometimes used for the edible, mainly internal organs of an animal Quail: Hungarian goulash Rabbit food: lettuce Radar Range: microwave oven, from the Amana Radarange, whose parent company, Raytheon, was the first to manufacture and market the microwave oven. Radio: tuna salad sandwich on toast (a pun on "tuna down," which sounds like "turn it down," as one would the radio knob) Radio Sandwich: tuna fish sandwich Raft: toast Run it through the Garden: any sandwich, usually a hamburger, with Lettuce, Tomato and Onion added Sea dust: Salt Shake one in the hay: strawberry milkshake Shingle with a shimmy and a shake: buttered toast with jam or jelly, hence the reference to 'shake'. Shit on a shingle/S.O.S.: minced dried beef with gravy on toast, mostly because it was a reviled standard fare in army messes Shivering Hay: strawberry gelatin Shoot from the south/Atlanta special: Coca-Cola, probably a reference to the fact that the headquarters of Coca-Cola is in Atlanta, Georgia. Shot out of the blue bottle: Bromo-Seltzer Slab of moo--let him chew it: rare rump steak Sleigh Ride Special: vanilla pudding Smear: margarine Soup jockey: waitress Splash of red noise: a bowl of tomato soup Stack/Short stack: order of pancakes Sun kiss/Oh jay (O.J.): orange juice Sunny-side up: the eggs are fried without flipping them, so the yolk looks just like a sun on white background Sweep the kitchen/Sweepings/Clean up the kitchen: a plate of hash Throw it in the mud: add chocolate syrup Twelve alive in a shell: a dozen raw oysters Two cows, make them cry: Two hamburgers with onions Vermont: maple syrup, because maple syrup comes primarily from the state of Vermont in the U.S. Walk a cow through the garden: Hamburger with lettuce, tomato and onion Warts: Olives Wax: American cheese Well-dressed diner: codfish Whiskey: rye bread, as in rye whiskey Whiskey down: rye toast, the 'down' part probably comes from the action of pushing down the handle on the toaster White Cow: vanilla milkshake Windmill Cocktail/City juice/Dog soup: glass of water Wreath: cabbage Wreck ?em: scrambled eggs Yesterday, today, and forever: hash Yum Yum/Sand: sugar Zeppelin: sausage Zeppelins in a fog: sausages and mashed potatoes Pop Culture References
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