30 September 2005
Waiters and cooks in diners and other short-order restaurants have traditionally used a colorful jargon to describe the various orders that customers place. What follows is a number of terms in this jargon. Now, this jargon is not universal; not all diners use it and often there are many different variants and options for a particular order, as witnessed by the numerous names for common food items on this list.
Some of these jargon terms, like eighty-six and java, are more general slang. Most of the others are obscure.
The jargon probably arose as a means of entertainment, both for the staff who would quickly tire of the same orders again and again and for the amusement of customers. And of course this diner slang served the traditional purpose of a jargon of identifying those who were experienced in the short-order business.
So, without further ado, here is a selection of diner slang:
Adam and Eve, poached eggs, also Adam and Eve on a raft, poached eggs on toast
Adam’s ale, water (the original drink)
alley, in the, serve as a side dish
axle grease, butter
bad news, the, the check
bale of hay, corned beef and cabbage
Becky’s eggs, bacon and eggs (a deliberate mispronunciation of bacon)
beef and, beef and beans
birdseed, cereal
blonde and sweet, coffee with cream and sugar
blue plate, the daily special
Bossy in a bowl, beef stew (Bossy being a traditional name for a cow)
Bostons, beans (Boston being famous for its baked beans)
bow wow, hot dog
bowl of red, chile
brass band without a leader, a plate of beans without pork
breath, onion (from the effect on one’s breath)
bridge, four of anything (a game of bridge has four players)
brown stone front, porter house steak
burn one, cook one hamburger
burn the British, toast an English muffin
C.J., cream cheese and jelly
cackle-berry, egg
cannon ball, cruller
chewed fine, hamburger steak
chicken from on high, the best cut of chicken
chopper, knife
city, water, one on the city is a glass of water (a reference to the municipal water supply, on the city is from the fact that water is traditionally free in restaurants)
cluck, chicken pie
coffee and, coffee and doughnut
cold mud, bucket of, chocolate ice cream, bowl of
cold spot, iced tea
combo, ham and eggs
cosmopolitan, Neapolitan ice cream
cow, the, milk
cowboy, western omelet
cry, make it, add onions (from the fact that the smell from cutting onions can induce tears)
cup of mud, coffee
draw, pour a cup of coffee, as in draw one
dyspepsia in a snow storm, mince pie sprinkled with sugar
echo, duplicate of the last order (one of many numerical names for food items or modes of service)
eighty one, glass of water
eighty six, out of that item, refuse a customer service
Eve with a lid on, apple pie (a reference to the fruit of the forbidden tree)
fifty five, root beer
fifty one, hot chocolate
first lady, spare ribs (a reference to Eve having been made from one of Adam’s ribs)
five, milk
fluff it, add whipped cream
fog, in a, with mashed potatoes
forty one, lemonade
garden, take it through the, add lettuce and tomato
George Eddy, customer who doesn’t leave a tip (presumably from the name of a notoriously poor tipper)
go for a walk, take-out order
goat, the, butter
graveyard stew, milk toast
hail, ice
ham and, ham and eggs
hash no, hash without onions
Hebrew enemies, pork chops
hen fruit, boiled egg
high and dry, sandwich without mayonnaise or butter
houseboat, banana split
ice the rice, rice pudding with ice cream added
in the dark, without cream (coffee order)
in the dark, without milk (coffee order)
java, coffee
jerk, ice cream soda (from soda jerk)
joe, coffee
let the blood follow the knife, rare roast beef
let the chicken wade through it, chicken soup (a joke on the paucity of chicken meat in the soup)
lumber, toothpick
maiden’s delight, cherries
mealy bustle, mealy potato
Mike and Ike, salt and pepper
motorman’s glove, veal cutlet
Murphy with his coat on, an unpeeled, boiled potato, unpeeled
Murphy, potato
mystery, hash
nervous pudding, jello
Noah, poached eggs
Noah’s boy, ham (Ham being the name of one of Noah’s sons)
on a raft, on toast
on the hoof, meat cooked rare
pair of sleeve buttons, two fish balls
pale, light on the cream (coffee order)
put out the lights and cry, liver and onions
radio, tuna sandwich (from "tuna down" mispronounced as "turn it down")
red lead, ketchup
red, white, and blue, mixed ice cream
roly poly, strawberry pudding
rose, onion
sand, the, sugar
sea dust, salt
shingle, toast
shipwreck, scrambled eggs
sinker, doughnut
slaughter on the pan, a porter house steak.
snowstorm, In a, with powdered sugar
solid shot, apple dumpling
squeeze one, one glass of orange juice
stack, pancakes
stars and stripes, pork and beans
summer time, bread and milk
sunny side up, eggs fried on one side
sweep the kitchen, hash
tea no, tea without milk
team of grays, two crullers
twenty one, limeade
two in three, two three-minute eggs
veg, vegetable soup
velvet, milk shake
Vermont, the, maple syrup
walking, to go
wheats, buckwheat pancakes
whisky, rye toast
white wings, sunny side up, fried eggs
whitewing, egg
with the light out, without milk (coffee order)
with, an additional item, beans with is beans and bread., eggs with are eggs with onion, one egg, lots of with means an egg with lots of onion.
wreath, carrying a, with cabbage
wreck ‘em, scramble the eggs
yesterday, today, and forever, hash
zeppelins, sausages (from the shape)
