Diner lingo
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Diner lingo is a kind of verbal slang used by cooks and chefs in diners and diner-style restaurants, and by the waitresses to communicate their orders to the cooks.
History
The origin of the lingo is unknown, but there is evidence suggesting it may have been used by 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.
List of terms
A
Adam & Eve on a raft: two poached eggs on toast
Adam & Eve on a raft & wreck 'em: two scrambled eggs on toast
Adam's ale: water
All hot: baked potato
Arnold Palmer: Half sweet tea, half lemonade
B
B & B: bread and butter
B.L.T.: bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich
Baby: glass of milk
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
Blackout: when server's entire section is occupied by black people
A blonde with sand: coffee with cream and sugar
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 (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 the card game bridge)
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
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")
Cup o' joe: a cup of coffee
Customer Service: attractive table
Customer will take a chance: hash
D
Deadeye: poached egg
Dough well done with cow to cover: bread and butter
Dog and maggot: cracker and cheese
Dog biscuit: a cracker
Dog soup: water
Drag it through the garden: a hamburger, hotdog, sandwich or similar with all condiments on it
Drag one through Georgia: Coca-Cola with chocolate syrup
Draw one/A cup of mud: a cup of coffee
Draw one in the dark/flowing Mississippi: a black coffee
Dry: a hamburger, hotdog, sandwich or similar without butter, mayonnaise or other dressing
Dusty miller: chocolate pudding, sprinkled with powdered malt
Dish pig: dishwasher
E
Egg o' Biscuit: fast food-grade biscuit with egg
Eighty-six: "86 the -- " E.g., "Do not sell to that customer." or "The kitchen is out of the item ordered." or "To remove an item from an order or from the menu."
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
F
Fifty-five: a glass of root beer
First lady: spare ribs (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 eggs, flipped over carefully, with the yolk very runny
Flop two, over medium: fried eggs, flipped over, with the yolk beginning to solidify
Flop two, over hard: fried eggs, flipped over, with the yolk solid all the way through
Fly cake/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: two fried eggs with unbroken yolks
G
GAC: grilled American cheese sandwich (also called "jack", from the pronunciation of "GAC")
GAC Tommy: grilled American cheese sandwich (also called "jack", from the pronunciation of "GAC") with tomato
Gallery: booth
Gentleman will take a chance: Plate of hash
Gravel train: sugar bowl
Graveyard stew: milk toast (buttered toast, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, and dropped into a bowl of warm milk)
H
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
I
Ice the rice: rice pudding with ice cream
In the alley: served as a side dish
In the weeds: a waitress/cook that cannot keep up with the tables or orders
Irish turkey: corned beef and cabbage
J
Jack Benny: cheese with bacon (named after Jack Benny, the comedian)[citation needed]
Jawa/Java/Joe: coffee
Jewish Round: a bagel
K
Keep off the grass: no lettuce
L
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
LTO: lettuce, tomato, onion
Lumber: a toothpick
M
An M.D./Doc: a Dr Pepper
Machine oil: syrup
Magoo: custard pie
Maiden's delight: cherries
Marry: consolidate food in same containers, e.g. pouring ketchup from half-filled bottles into other bottles to make full bottles
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
Mother and child reunion: chicken and egg sandwich
Mully/Bossy in a bowl: beef stew (so called because "Bossy" was a common name for a cow)
A Murphy: a potato
Mystery in the alley: a side order of hash
N
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
O
On a rail: fast (as in "Fries, on a rail!")
On the fly: as soon as possible
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
P
Paint it red: put ketchup on an item
Pair of drawers: two cups of coffee
Pearl Diver: dishwasher
Peel it off the wall: add a leaf of lettuce
Pigs in a blanket: sausages wrapped in pancakes
Pin a rose on it: add onion to an order
Pittsburgh: something burning, toasted or charred
Pope Benedict: an eggs benedict
Put a hat on it: add ice cream
Put out the lights and cry: an order of liver and onions
Q
Quail: Hungarian goulash
R
Rabbit food: lettuce
Radio sandwich: tuna fish sandwich
Raft: toast
Run it through the garden: any sandwich, usually a hamburger, with lettuce, tomato and onion added
S
Sea dust: salt
Schmeer: cream cheese, usually on a bagel
Shake one in the hay: strawberry milkshake
Shingle with a shimmy and a shake: buttered toast with jam or jelly
Shit on a shingle/S.O.S.: minced dried beef with gravy on toast (it was a reviled and loved 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 round steak
Sleigh ride special: vanilla pudding
Soup jockey: waitress
Splash of red noise: a bowl of tomato soup
A spot with a twist: a cup of tea with lemon
Stack/Short stack: order of pancakes
A stack of Vermont: pancakes with maple syrup
Sun kiss/Oh jay (O.J.): orange juice
Sunny-side up: eggs 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
T
The works: a hamburger, hotdog, sandwich or similar with all condiments on it
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
V
Vermont: maple syrup
W
Walk a cow through the garden: hamburger with lettuce, tomato and onion
Walking: to go
Walking in: a new order just arriving in the kitchen.
Warts: olives
Wax: American cheese
Well-dressed diner: codfish
Whiskey: rye bread
Whiskey down: rye toast
White cow: vanilla milkshake
Wreath: cabbage
Wreck 'em: scrambled eggs
Y
Yesterday, today, and forever: hash
Yum Yum/Sand: sugar
Yellow Paint: mustard
Z
Zeppelin: sausage
Zeppelins in a fog: sausages and mashed potatoes
See also
References
Further reading
The History of Diner Lingo and New York Eating Houses [1] research & glossary by Barbara Kuck, Culinary Historian & Curator, Chicago Culinary Museum and Chefs Hall of Fame and Tom Roberts, Szathmáry Distinguished Visiting Professor of Gastronomy