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American diner lingo existed in patriotic era when 'Burn the British!' meant toasted English muffin
Lighthearted to risque, diner slang served up politically incorrect entertainment along with eggs
By Kerry J. Byrne Fox News
Published April 15, 2024 9:56am EDT
The taste of revenge was served in American diners for decades.
The British burned Falmouth, Maine in 1775; Fairfield, Connecticut in 1779; and Washington, D.C. in 1814.
Hungry Americans returned the favor for decades every time they ordered breakfast.
"Burn the British!" was a popular outcry from waiters to cooks in a largely forgotten uniquely American culinary vernacular. That would be diner lingo.
"'Burn the British' meant toasted English muffins," recalled David Steinmann, who was born in Brooklyn in the 1940s and today is chairman of the Jewish Institute for the National Security of America (JINSA).
Eggs on English muffins
"Gimme a pair looking at ya and burn the British" is how diner employees might have described sunny-side-up eggs and English muffins in the glory days of diner lingo, a popular American vernacular in the mid-20th century. (Dorling Kindersley ltd/Alamy Stock Photo )
The phrase and many others are remembered by diner-lingologists today as six U.S. states celebrate Patriots' Day.
It's held on the third Monday of April in honor of the anniversary of the start of the American Revolution on April 19, 1775.
"The lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek and even sometimes risqué phrases could be heard in wide use in busy diners during the 1920s continuing on well into the 1970s," Garrison Leykam, author of "Classic Diners of Connecticut," wrote for Connecticut Magazine (CTInsider.com).
"The lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek and even sometimes risqué phrases could be heard in wide use in busy diners."
The slang shouted in diners wasn’t shorthand. In many cases, its phrases were longer than the actual words they replaced.
The terminology instead was peppered with salty language, seasoned with political incorrectness and often served with a double order of entendre.
Diner in the 1950s
Especially popular for those who want to grab a quick bite and run errands are the eateries in the Washington Market area. Standing room only was the rule — there were no seats. (Bettmann/CORBIS/Bettmann Archive)
"Every diner had the counter man and the cooks," said Steinmann, who as a boy in New York City in the 1950s ate each Saturday with his family at their local diner in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn.
"If you ordered eggs sunny-side-up, the counter man yelled out, ‘Give me a pair looking at ya.' You wanted them over easy, he'd yell, ‘Give me a pair and blind ‘em.'"
Leykam has recorded hundreds of diner lingo phrases.
Among the highlights he listed:
Black cow - chocolate milk or root beer float
Blonde with sand - coffee with cream and sugar
Tom's Restaurant chocolate milk
A black cow, diner lingo for chocolate milk, at Tom's Restaurant in New York City. "Black Cow" was also the cryptic title of a hit song by Steely Dan. It was likely a reference to diner lingo. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
Bronx vanilla - garlic
City juice - water
Clean up the kitchen - hash
Give it wings - serve it fast
Heart attack on a rack - biscuits and gravy
Honeymoon salad - lettuce, alone
Irish turkey - corned beef
The colorful language heard in diners largely faded out by the 1970s.
Several common American culinary idioms, however, still trace their roots to the phenomenon: blue-plate special, BLT (bacon lettuce, tomato sandwich) and java (coffee) among them.
"Black Cow" is the cryptic title of a hit song by Steely Dan in the 1970s.
Songwriters Walter Becker and Donald Fagen grew up among the diner culture of New York and New Jersey. The song title is likely a reference to diner slang.
"While you can still hear some of the remnants of diner lingo in use today in classic diners," writes Leykman, "its prevalence has been drowned out by the emergence of fast food chains and computer ordering."
For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle.
Kerry J. Byrne is a lifestyle reporter with Fox News Digital.
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