Understanding Diner Lingo: 55 Phrases to Get You Started

1. Adam and Eve on a raft/log -Two poached eggs on toast
2. Adam’s ale/city juice/dog soup - Water
3. All hot - A baked potato
4. Axle grease/skid grease/cow paste - Butter
5. Baby juice/moo juice/cow juice/Sweet Alice - Milk
6. Belch water/balloon water – Seltzer or soda water
7. Blonde with Sand - Coffee with cream and sugar.
8. Bloodhound in the Hay - A hot dog with sauerkraut
9. Bossy in a bowl – Beef stew
10. Bow-wow/bun pup/tube steak/groundhog/Coney Island/Coney Island chicken/Coney Island bloodhound - A hot dog
11. Breath – Onion
12. Bronx vanilla/halitosis/Italian perfume – Garlic
13. Bullets/whistleberries – Baked beans
14. Burn one – Put a hamburger on the grill
15. Burn one, take it through the garden and pin a rose on it – A hamburger with lettuce, tomato and onion
16. Burn the British – A toasted English muffin
17. Cackle fruit/Cackleberries/Hen Fruit -Eggs
18. Chicks on a raft – Eggs on toast
19. Customer will take a chance/clean up the kitchen/sweep the floor – Hash
20. Dough well done with cow to cover – Buttered toast
21. Drag one through Georgia – Coca-Cola with chocolate syrup
22. Draw one/a cup of mud – A cup of coffee
23. Draw one in the dark – A cup of black coffee
24. First lady – Spareribs (probably a pun on Eve being made from Adam’s rib)
25. Fish eyes/cat’s eyes – Tapioca pudding
26. Flop two – Two fried eggs over easy
27. Frog sticks – French fries
28. GAC – A grilled American cheese sandwich (Also called a “jack” or a “Jack Benny” if there’s bacon on it.)
29. Gravel train – Sugar bowl
30. Heart Attack on Rack – Biscuits and gravy
31. Hemorrhage – Ketchup
32. Hockey puck – A hamburger, well done
33. Hounds on an Island – Franks and beans
34. Houseboat – A banana split
35. In the alley – Served as a side dish
36. Maiden’s delight – Cherries (“cherry” is slang for the maidenhead (archaic), or hymen)
37. Mississippi Mud/Yellow paint – mustard
38. Mystery in the alley – A side order of hash
39. Nervous pudding – Jelly/Jello
40. Noah’s boy – A slice of ham (Ham was one of the Biblical Noah’s sons)
41. Noah’s boy with Murphy carrying a wreath – ham and potatoes with cabbage
42. On the hoof – Any kind of meat cooked rare
43. Pair of drawers – Two cups of coffee
44. Pittsburgh – Toast or burn something so it’s charred on the outside but still red on the inside (probably a reference to Pittsburgh’s smokestacks or coal beds)
45. Put out the lights and cry – Liver and onions
46. Sand/gravel/yum-yum – Sugar
47. Sea dust – salt
48. Shingle with a shimmy and a shake - Buttered toast with jam
49. Shoot from the South/Atlanta special – Coca-Cola (the company’s headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia)
50. Radio – A tuna salad sandwich on toast (“tuna down” or tuna on toast, sounds like “turn it down” the command often repeated when the radio is on in the kitchen)
51. Wax - American cheese
52. Whiskey – rye bread
53. Whiskey down – rye toast
54. Wreck ‘em – Scrambled eggs
55. 86 – Remove an item from an order or from the menu