I found this list on Wikipedia and had to share it. This doesn’t apply strictly to New Jersey Diners but I have heard some of these in my travels.

It is almost like another language being spoken and it’s speakers from another country.

Please comment if you know of a local diner in NJ that uses their own special lingo, I would love to check it out!

A

A C – sandwich made with American Cheese
Adam & Eve on a raft ‐ two poached eggs on toast
Adam & Eve on a raft – wreck them ‐ two scrambled eggs on toast
Adam’s ale ‐  water
All hot ‐ baked potato
All the way  ‐ sandwich made with lettuce, mayonnaise, onion and butter
A pie – apple pie
Axle grease –butter

B

B & B ‐ bread and butter
B.L.T. ‐ bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich
Baby ‐ glass of milk
Bailed hay ‐ shredded wheat
Balloon juice/Belch water/Alka Seltzer ‐ seltzer, soda water
Beef stick ‐ bone
Billiard ‐ buttermilk
Birdseed ‐ breakfast cereal
Black and white ‐ chocolate soda with vanilla ice cream
Blonde – coffee with cream
Blonde with sand ‐ coffee with cream and sugar
Bloodhounds in the hay ‐ hot dogs and sauerkrautBloody ‐ 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
Bossy in a bowl – beef stew
Bottom – ice cream added to a drink
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 a cowboy – Western Omelet
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
Brown Bellies – baked beans
Bubble Dancer ‐ dishwasher
Bucket of cold mud ‐ a bowl of chocolate ice cream
Bucket of hail – glass of ice
Bullets/Whistleberries/Saturday night ‐ baked beans (so called because of the supposed
flatulence they cause)
Bun pup – a hot dog
Burn it and let it swim – a float made with chocolate syrup and ice cream on top
Burn one ‐ put a hamburger on the grillBurn 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
Cat’s eyes ‐ tapioca
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
City juice – water
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 omelet 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 coffeeCup of mud – coffee
Customer Service ‐ attractive table
Customer will take a chance ‐ hash

D

Deadeye ‐ poached egg
Dog and maggot ‐ cracker and cheese
Dog biscuit ‐ a cracker
Dog soup ‐ water
Dough well done with cow to cover – buttered toast
Drag it through the garden ‐ a hamburger, hotdog, sandwich or similar with all condiments on it
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

Echo – repeat
Egg o’ biscuit ‐ fast food‐grade biscuit with egg
Eighty‐one – A glass of water
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
Fifty‐one – hot chocolate
First lady ‐ spare ribs (a pun on Eve’s being made from Adam’s spare rib)
Fish eyes or Cat’s eyes ‐ tapioca pudding
Five – large glass of milk
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
Forty‐one – lemonade
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”)
Gallery ‐booth
Gentleman will take a chance – hash
George Eddy – a customer who does not leave tip.Go for a walk – a take out order
Gravel train ‐ sugar bowl
Graveyard stew ‐ milk toast (buttered toast, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, and dropped into a bowl of warm milk)
Grease spot – hamburger
Groundhog – hot dog

H

Hail ‐ ice
Hamlette – an omelet made with ham
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 dishIn 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)
Jawa/Java/Joe ‐ coffee
Jerk – an ice cream soda

K

Keep off the grass ‐ no lettuce

L

L.A. – serve with ice cream
Ladybug ‐ fountain man
Lead pipes with rounded cows – spaghetti and meatballs
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 ‐ syrupMagoo ‐ custard pie
Maiden’s delight ‐ cherries
Mama – marmalade
Marry ‐ consolidate food in same containers, i.e. 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

Oil – butter
On a rail ‐ fast (as in “Fries, on a rail!”)On the fly ‐ as soon as possible
On the hoof – meat done rare
On wheels – a take‐out order
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
Pig between two sheets – ham sandwich
Pin a rose on it: add onion to an order
Pipes – straws
Pittsburgh: something burning, toasted or charred
Pope Benedict ‐ eggs benedict
P.T. – pot of tea
Put a hat on it: add ice cream
Put out the lights and cry ‐ an order of liver and onions

Q

Quail ‐ Hungarian goulashR

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

Sand – sugar
Seaboard – item wrapped for take‐out
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
Shingle with a shinmmy and a squeeze – toast with jelly and orange juice
Sinkers and suds – doughnuts and coffee
S**t 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 refers to the headquarters of Coca‐Cola 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
Smear ‐ margarine or butterSoup jockey ‐ waitress
Splash of red noise ‐ a bowl of tomato soup
A spot with a twist ‐ a cup of tea with lemon
Squeeze one – orange juice
Stack ‐ order of pancakes
Short stack ‐ 2 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
Twenty‐one – Limeade
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
Wrecked hen with fruit‐ scrambled eggs with orange juice

Y

Yesterday, today, and forever ‐ hash
Yum Yum/Sand ‐ sugar

Z

Zeppelin ‐ sausage
Zeppelins in a fog ‐ sausages and mashed potatoes