Order Up! Classic American Diner Slang

About Order Up! Classic American Diner Slang

Give your memory a workout with Order Up! Classic American Diner Slang: 15 multiple-choice questions aimed at mixed difficulty, free to play right in your browser. Walk behind the lunch counter of a classic American diner and decode the colorful secret language that short-order cooks used to call out orders from the 1920s through the 1960s. Expect to spend about 7 minutes; every question comes with an explanation, so you learn something even when you miss.

A few sample questions

1. 1. When a counter man called out "Adam and Eve on a raft," what was he ordering from the kitchen?

   Answer: Two poached eggs on toast

   "Adam and Eve on a raft" meant two poached eggs served on a slice of toast — the toast being the "raft" floating them along.

2. 2. If a cook received an order for "Adam and Eve on a raft" and then heard "wreck them," what did that mean?

   Answer: Scramble the eggs instead of poaching them

   "Wreck them" told the cook to scramble the eggs, turning a poached-egg order into a scrambled one with a single vivid phrase.

3. 3. What did a short-order cook do when the counter man yelled "burn the British"?

   Answer: Toast an English muffin

   "Burn the British" was the cook's colorful way of saying to toast an English muffin — the "British" being the muffin and "burn" meaning to toast it.

4. 4. In classic American diner lingo, what did it mean when an order was called "on wheels"?

   Answer: The customer wanted the order to go, as takeout

   "On wheels" (sometimes "let it walk" or "give it shoes") told the kitchen the order was to go — a takeout order headed out the door.

5. 5. A customer sitting at the lunch counter ordered "one in the dark." What arrived in front of them?

   Answer: A black coffee

   "One in the dark" (short for "draw one in the dark") was diner slang for a black coffee — no milk, no cream, just dark as night.

Things you'll learn along the way

• ✓"Bossy" was slang for a cow, so "bossy in a bowl" meant beef stew — a hearty, no-nonsense bowl of slow-cooked beef.
• ✓"Hail" was diner slang for ice cubes, so "hold the hail" simply meant to leave the ice out of the drink.
• ✓"Red paint" was diner slang for ketchup, so "paint it red" was the cook's cue to add ketchup — the most vivid red condiment on the counter.