Adam And Eve On A Raft, And Wreck 'Em

Jerry Poulimas got his first "slanguage" lesson eight years ago, when a customer plopped down on a lunch counter stool and said, "Gimme some Joe."

"I thought the guy thought my name was Joe, and I told him it wasn't," says Poulimas, who was 15 and working after school in his parents' diner. "No," the guy said. "Joe. You know, coffee."

Poulimas, who now manages the family-owned Angela's Coffee Shop in the Fort Tryon section of upper Manhattan, still hasn't mastered the arcane lingo of the hash house. But, he says, he's picking it up, one crazy, colorful term at a time.

"It's a language that's close to extinction," says John Mariani, a New York food writer who once compiled a list of the most popular patois used by diner cooks and waiters, and authored The Dictionary of American Food and Drink.

Once, diners rang with calls for cackleberries (eggs), axle grease (butter), Zeppelins in a fog (sausages in mashed potatoes) and bossy in a bowl (beef stew).

Slang now? "It's like Latin, a dying language," says Mariani.

There are several reasons, among them the disappearance of the brassy, sassy waitresses and countermen who made the colorful jargon part of their working routine during its heyday in the '30s, '40s and early '50s.

At several diners around New York, managers said, employes don't use slang, partly because there is no one to teach it, but also because orders to cooks are increasingly complex and thus require more exact terminology.

And some slang has gone mainstream — among it, O.J., BLT, stack, mayo, over easy, hash browns, sunnyside up and blue plate special.

Tradition is just hanging on at Angela's, where Poulimas was shouting an order as a reporter walked in. "Whisky down," he yelled to cook Gus Delos. "And it's walking." "That's rye toast to go," he translated.

Diner slang has been around a long time. In 1852, a newspaper in Detroit printed some examples, and by the 1870s, black waiters made it popular. After World War II, soda jerks — another term that later crossed over into popular use — and drive-in waitresses added more terms. But by then, it was a fading fad.

"I didn't know any of this until the cooks told me," says Poulimas, who started working for his parents when he was 11. "They told me to learn it to minimize confusion."

One specialty at Angela's is the rice pudding that his mother makes every morning. What do the waiters call it?

"Rice pudding," says Poulimas. "Some things you don't screw around with."

- Bill Bell (The New York Daily News)

The Lingo

Adam and Eve on a raft, and wreck 'em: Eggs on toast, scrambled.
A spot with a twist: Tea with lemon.
Axle grease: Butter.
Belch water: Seltzer or soda water.
Birdseed: Cereal.
Blowout patches: Pancakes.
Blue-plate special: A dish of meat, potato, and vegetable served on a plate (usually blue) sectioned in three parts.
Bossy in a bowl: Beef stew.
Bowl of red: A bowl of chili con carne.
Bowwow or Coney Island chicken: A hot dog.
Breath: An onion.
Bridge or bridge party: Four of anything, so called from the card-game hand of bridge.
Bullets or Whistle Berries: Baked beans.
Burn one, take it through the garden and pin a rose on it: Hamburger with lettuce, tomato and onion.
Burn the British, and draw one in the dark: English muffin, toasted, with black coffee.
Cat's eyes: Tapioca.
City juice: Water.
C.J. White: Cream cheese and jelly sandwich on white bread.
Cowboy: A western omelet or sandwich.
Cow feed: A salad.
Creep: Draft beer.
Deadeye: Poached egg.
Dog and maggot: Cracker and cheese.
Dough well done with cow to cover: Buttered toast.
Drag one through Georgia: Coca-Cola with chocolate syrup.
Eighty-six: The kitchen is out of the item ordered.
Eve with a lid on: Apple pie.
Fifty-five: A glass of root beer.
First lady: Spareribs.
Fly cake or roach cake: A raisin cake or huckleberry pie.
Frenchman's delight: Pea soup.
Gentleman will take a chance or Sweep the kitchen: Hash.
Go for a walk or On wheels: An order to be packed and taken out.
Gravel train: Sugar bowl.
Graveyard stew: Milk toast.
Hemorrhage: Ketchup.
High and dry: A plain sandwich without butter, mayonnaise, or lettuce.
Houseboat: A banana split made with ice cream and sliced bananas.
In the alley: Serve as a side dish.
Irish turkey: Corned beef and cabbage.
Jack Tommy: Cheese and tomato sandwich.
Java or Joe: Coffee.
Looseners: Prunes.
Lumber: A toothpick.
Maiden's delight: Cherries.
Mike and Ike or The twins: Salt and pepper shakers.
Moo juice: Milk.
Mud or Omurk: Black coffee.
Murphy: Potatoes.
Nervous pudding: Jello.
Noah's boy: A slice of ham.
On the hoof: Meat done rare.
Paint a bow-wow red: Hot dog with ketchup.
Pittsburgh: Meat charred on the outside while still red within.
Put out the lights and cry: Liver and onions.
Radio: A tuna-fish-salad sandwich on toast.
Sand: Sugar.
Sea dust: Salt.
Sinkers and suds: Doughnuts and coffee.
Vermont: Maple syrup.
Warts: Olives.
Whisky down: Rye toast.
Wreath: Cabbage.
Zeppelins in a fog: Sausages in mashed potatoes.


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