Diner lingo

History

List of terms

• 86 – omit from an order; "hold"
• Adam and Eve on a raft – two poached eggs atop toast
• Adam's ale – water
• Angels on horseback – oysters wrapped in bacon
• Axle grease – butter or margarine
• B&B - bread and butter
• Baled hay – shredded wheat
• Bad breath – onions
• Bark – frankfurter
• Battle Creek in a bowl - bowl of corn flakes cereal
• Belly warmer – coffee
• BLT – bacon/lettuce/tomato sandwich
• Biddy board – French toast
• Blue plate special
• Blowout patches – pancakes
• Board – slice of toast
• Boiled leaves – hot tea
• Bowl of red – chili con
• Bow wow – hot dog
• Brick – biscuit
• Bridge/Bridge party – four of anything
• Bronx vanilla – garlic; originated in the 1920s.
• Bullets – beans
• burn the British – toasted English muffin
• Cackleberries – eggs
• Cats' eyes – tapioca pudding
• Checkerboard – waffle
• City juice – water
• coffee high and dry - black coffee
• Cowboy with spurs - western omelette with fries
• Cow paste – butter
• Dead eye – poached egg
• Dogs and maggots – crackers and cheese
• Drown the kids - boiled eggs
• Echo - repeat of the last order
• Eve with a lid – apple pie
• Fish eyes – tapioca pudding
• Foreign entanglements - spaghetti
• Greasy spoon – slang term for a diner
• Guess water - soup
• Hemorrhage - ketchup
• Hockey puck – a well-done burger
• Halitosis – garlic; originated in the 1920s.
• Hot blond in sand - coffee with cream and sugar
• Hot top – hot chocolate or chocolate sauce
• In the alley - served as a side dish
• Irish cherries – carrots
• Italian perfume – garlic; originated in the 1920s.
• Jamoka – coffee
• Java – coffee
• Jewish round - bagel
• Joe - coffee
• Life preserver – doughnut
• Looseners – prunes
• Lumber – a toothpick
• Machine oil - syrup
• Maiden's delight – cherries
• Make it cry – add onion
• Moo juice – milk
• Mug of murk – black coffee
• Mully – beef stew
• Nervous pudding – Jell-O
• O'Connors – potatoes
• On the hoof – cooked rare
• Punk – bread
• Put wheels on it – carry-out order; to go
• Rabbit food – lettuce
• Radio sandwich – tuna fish sandwich
• Ripper – a deep fried hot dog
• Rush it – Russian dressing
• Sand – sugar
• Shit on a shingle – Chipped beef served on toast
• Sinker – doughnut
• Skid grease – butter
• Squeal – ham
• Sunny side up – a fried egg cooked on one side
• Sweepings – hash
• Take a chance – hash
• Tube steak – hot dog
• Two dots and a dash – two fried eggs and a strip of bacon
• Wet mystery – beef stew
• Whiskey down – rye toast
• With the works – with everything on it
• Wreck 'em – scrambled eggs
• Yard bird – chicken
• Yum yum – sugar
• Shingles with a shimmy and a shake - Buttered toast with jam