History Main / HashHouseLingo

* In the ''Anime/LoveLiveSunshine'' fanfic [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/49014487 Maid-en Voyage]], Mari Ohara uses some diner lingo while Aquors is temporarily working at a maid cafe. Dia protests that she would be the only one that knows what she means, [[InstantlyProvenWrong only for Ruby to show that she understood Mari's statement]].

'''Cashier:''' [[[[DoesNotSpeakCommon I can't understand a word you say.]]\\

[[DoesNotSpeakCommon '''Cashier:''' I can't understand a word you say.\\]]

[[BaitAndSwitch '''Skeeter:''' One salad from the salad bar!]]

[[BreadEggsMilkSquick '''Man 3:''' ''(Walks in)'' Can I use your bathroom?\\
'''Peter:''' Got a telephone pole heading to the swimming hole. Spray it with sunshine!]]

'''Cashier:''' I can't understand a word you say.\\

'''Skeeter:''' One salad from the salad bar!

'''Man 3:''' ''(Walks in)'' Can I use your bathroom?\\
'''Peter:''' Got a telephone pole heading to the swimming hole. Spray it with sunshine!

* A ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'' strip by Don Martin features several waitreses placing and receiving orders in this fashion, followed by a guy demanding of the cook "Where's the men's room, mac? Gotta go and no foolin'," which is mistaken for another order.

** The waitress turns an order of "two specials and an onion ring log" into "Ordering! Two heart-burns and a deep-fried doorstop."

* Once on ''Series/TheJeffersons'', Tom Willis ordered a drink "on the rocks. And hold the ice."

* An episode of ''Series/ReadingRainbow'': Creator/LeVarBurton wound up just guessing and getting every order [[LethalChef horribly, horribly wrong]], although, since this was a restaurant meant for goat people, it was part of the gag. (It tied in with a book that episode about a goat who was a picky eater, [[ItMakesSenseInContext just roll with it]].) As an example, the "Blue Plate Special" was literally that: a blue plate (though the server commented, "There's a yellow one around here somewhere too.").

* In the ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' episode "The Specialist", Starsky and Hutch both order a medium rare steak with plain baked potatoes. The waitress says, "Okay, that's two T's bleeding slightly on a raft. Two Irish plums and hold the fat."

-->I hate whenever you go into a coffee shop, no matter what you order they have their own way of calling it to the back. Like you could be like, "Hi, I'll have a tall mocha iced latte blended fun." And then the lady's like, "BLEEUH!, anything else?"

** In "Lost!", Arthur oversleeps on the bus and ends up at the edge of town. He then waits for the next bus at a diner, where the waitress responds to his order of a glass of milk by hollering "squeeze me a cow."

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Not Phineas and Ferb", Major Monogram sets up a short-order message technique to Agent P. "Doof is up, put a stop, curses on the side." When Agent P leaves, Monogram calls out for "Adam and Eve on raft! Wreck 'em!"[[note]]Two scrambled eggs on toast.[[/note]]

* Lick's restaurant lingo comes in halves; the person taking the order calls out the first half, and the grill people and dressers call out the second half, so that everyone knows if they've understood correctly. (A fair number of the terms either {{rhyme|s on a dime}} or [[AlliterativeName alliterate]].) The customer, who might only hear the first half, may find the lingo a bit esoteric, such as "Sky high" for a regular fries or "Routine" for a poutine. But for the most part they tend to speak for themselves and can be worked out with little to no thought, such as "Nature" for a nature burger (veggie burger), "Ring a ding ding" for onion rings, or "Gobble gobble" for a turkey burger.

* Many drinks are ordered "on the rocks", which refers to ice.[[note]]Although, geologically speaking, ice is a mineral, and thus may loosely be called a "rock".[[/note]]A lot of people object to diluting high-quality drinks but need a cooling system.

** A 2014 episode has Snuffy attempting to deliver brunch to a zookeeper (Creator/AudraMcDonald) and her animal charges. When he keeps messing up the order, he develops some Hash House Lingo to try and remember what the animals ordered, eventually settling on "beggon, red flips and Bert" (respectively: bacon and eggs, raspberry pancakes and blueberry oatmeal).

* On ''Series/{{Friends}}'' Monica is dubious that Phoebe can be a waitress. Phoebe gives the following demonstration of her abilities, too bad catering a funeral doesn't really require this kind of lingo:

'''Bubble Bass:''' I'll take [[OvercomplicatedMenuOrder a double triple Bossy deluxe, on a raft, 4×4 animal style, extra shingles with a shimmy and a squeeze, light axle grease, make it cry, burn it, and let it swim]].\\

->'''Server''': Three pork combos, extra bacon on the side, two chili cheese samplers, a basket of liver and onion rings, a catch of the day, and a steak cut in the shape of a trout. You got all that, honey? \\
'''Kronk''': Three oinkers wearing pants, plate of hot air, basket of Grandma's breakfast, and change the bull to a gill, got it.

* In this ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1999/10/06 strip]], Jon asks for a well-done hamburger with extra onions. Irma then turns to the kitchen and yells "YO TONY! BURN A COW, AND MAKE HER CRY!" which causes Jon and Garfield [[LostMyAppetite to lose their appetites]].

* The 12th issue of ''Cartoon Cartoons'' (one of several {{comic book adaptation}}s of Creator/CartoonNetwork shows published by Creator/DCComics at the time) had a ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' story titled "To Sea or Not to Sea?", where Johnny attempted to court a teacher while assisting her on a field trip. At one point, the teacher faints while commenting that Johnny had garlic for lunch, causing him to say "Aw, man! Is that why they call it a [[VampiresHateGarlic vampire killer]] with cheese?"

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* In the Franchise/GIJoe fanfic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5563777/1/Order-Up Order Up]], all the quartermasters working in the Joe kitchens have code names taken from diner lingo.

---> '''Waitress:''' Ordering! Three pork combos, extra bacon on the side, two chili cheese samplers, a basket of liver and onion rings, a catch of the day, and a steak cut in the shape of a trout. You got all that, honey?\\

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit,'' Eddie orders "scotch on the rocks" from a Toon waiter, [[LiteralMinded realizes whom he's addressing]] and corrects it to, "And I mean ''ice!''", but they apparently can't resist the gag or didn't hear him -- the glass that arrives has ice and ''one'' rock in it.
%%%* in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/AttackOfTheClones''.

* In ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' short "Playing the Ponies", when someone orders two eggs on toast Moe shouts to Curly the cook "Adam and Eve on a raft!" -- followed by "And ''wreck'' 'em!" after the customer clarifies that he wants the eggs scrambled rather than fried. That customer asked for an hot dog earlier -- which Moe called out as "one bow-wow!" -- but changed his mind once he saw Curly chase after a dog.
* OlderThanTelevision: In the Creator/FattyArbuckle short ''The Waiters' Ball'', a customer asks for pork and beans, and the waiter shouts to Fatty to make "One grunt with a thousand on a plate!".

* In ''Film/TheMuppetsTakeManhattan'', Yolanda Rat puts an order up in the diner window: "two zeroes on a trampoline with a side of Joan of Arc. [[note]]two sunny-side up eggs on toast with a side of steak fries[[/note]]"
* ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' gets in one, when Captain Oveur is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVdvyWK6NiI conversing]] with the Mayo clinic.
--> '''Operator:''' Excuse me, Captain Oveur, but I have an emergency call on line five from a Mr. Hamm.\\
'''Captain Oveur:''' Alright, give me a Hamm on five, hold the Mayo.

* In the ''[[Literature/KatieKazooSwitcheroo Katie Kazoo]]'' book ''Out to Lunch'', the lunch ladies use diner-speak in the cafeteria kitchen.
* Prevalent in one of ''Literature/TheUltraViolets'''s hang-outs, ''Tom's Diner.'' Butterbeer, for example, is called the ''[[Franchise/HarryPotter "Harry Classic."]]''
%% * In a children's book series featuring kids rescuing and returning lost pets, a book features a parrot who says odd things, frustrating his would-be rescuers who can't figure out where he learned what he's saying or what it means. Eventually the point of view character visits a diner and overhears some of the parrot's phrases being said which prompts her to realize he lives in a diner.
* ''{{Literature/Arthur}}'s Christmas'' features Arthur overhearing a Mall Santa's deli order as "catch a fish, hit it with rye, and put a pair of shoes on it!" and (being eight and all) taking it literally as what the real Santa Claus likes to eat.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* An episode of ''Series/ReadingRainbow'': Creator/LeVarBurton wound up just guessing and getting every order [[LethalChef horribly, horribly wrong]], although, since this was a restaurant meant for goat people (It tied in with a book that episode about a goat who was a picky eater, [[ItMakesSenseInContext just roll with it]]) it was part of the gag. As an example, the "Blue Plate Special" was literally that: a blue plate (though the server commented "There's a yellow one around here somewhere too").
* Once on ''Series/TheJeffersons'', Tom Willis ordered a drink "on the rocks. And hold the ice."

* One episode of ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' has Lorelai stepping in when Luke is indisposed. Lorelai being Lorelai, that comes complete with diner speak (and insisting that customers order certain things because she thinks the diner-speak for them is funny).

--> '''Phoebe:''' I can be a waitress. Okay, watch this. Um, gimme two number ones, 86 the bacon, one Adam and Eve on a raft and wreck 'em, la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la.
* In the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Threads," Daniel Jackson is stuck in a diner on a higher plane of existence. Oma Desala is his waitress, and she attempts to use the lingo on occasion. Amusingly, it's the most straightforward she ever is for the entire series (on previous appearances, she spoke primarily in koans).
** Vala also gets into this when she becomes a waitress during "Memento Mori":
--> "Dead cow on a turban, hold the yellow, extra spud mush." The chef approvingly notes that she's been practicing.
* In one episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', Niles orders a decaf latte with skimmed milk at Cafe Nervosa, and the barrista calls out "One gutless wonder!" [[note]] RealLife UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} coffee shops and stands usually call this a "Why bother?"[[/note]]
* An episode of ''Series/{{Soap}}'' finds Chester working as a short-order cook. When a customer orders "Jack ham, loose hoaten, roll bowl, no green, lots of reg, keep it low, let ‘er ride it", Chester is flummoxed until a waitress whispers [[RiddleForTheAges what that means]] in his ear. Chester laughs and says “He’s actually going to eat that?".
* In an episode of ''[[Music/SClub7 L.A. 7]]'' Jo gets a job at a diner but almost gets fired when the ''customers'' insist on speaking in lingo like this and Jo, being British and unfamiliar with it (and kinda brusque even at the best of times,) starts yelling at them for not telling her in plain English what the hell a "walking dog, hold the hay, and a tall brown cow" is (which is likely a hot dog without sauerkraut and a chocolate shake.)
* Discussed in an episode of ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' with two former diner waitresses quizzing each other on the slang for various orders.

--> '''Mork:''' I'll have a squealer on a honky, no Goya and a side of Jeanne d'Arcs.\\

* In the ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' episode "The Specialist," Starsky and Hutch both order a medium rare steak with plain baked potatoes. The waitress says, "Okay, that's two T's bleeding slightly on a raft. Two Irish plums and hold the fat."
* An episode of ''Series/ILoveLucy'' has the Ricardos and the Mertzes going into the diner business together. Fred and Ethel have previous experience and are able to talk this way, but Ricky and Lucy are terrible at it.
-->'''Lucy:''' The next time you want a hamburger without onions, ''ask'' for a hamburger without onions! Don't just stand there yelling, "Bring the bull in the ring and laugh in his face!"

** Heard on occasion on the "Grover as waiter" skits.

* Gladys from ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' talked like this sometimes. Miss Piggy's order of a watercress sandwich and rhubarb juice was "The Weight Watcher's Special". Annie Sue's large order of a milkshake, burger, fries and apple pie was a "Kamikaze".

--> '''Woman:''' I need some Sominex and some condoms...\\
'''Ray:''' ''(to the back)'' Sleeping beauty's got a date! ''(to the woman)'' anything else?\\

* Kyle Cease has this joke:
--> I hate whenever you go into a coffee shop, no matter what you order they have their own way of calling it to the back. Like you could be like, "Hi, I'll have a tall mocha iced latte blended fun." And then the lady's like, "BLEEUH!, anything else?"
* Louis CK claims to have mastered the code for ordering breakfast foods. For example, this would be the code for someone ordering scrambled eggs, bacon and orange juice:
--> '''Louis:''' Wake up the monkey and show him a dollar. Shave my back and slap my sister. Wax lips. Two lumpy tits riding sidecar. And scrambled eggs and bacon and orange juice.

--> '''Sam:''' Chicken chow mein with chocolate covered raisins and a caramel swirl.\\

---> '''Stinky:''' Sal, a Number 3!
* The Enclave cook in ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' will gladly, if you ask for food, serve you "shit on a shingle" and points to the "snow and fly shit" on the table. "Shit on a shingle" is chipped beef on toast (this is [[TruthInTelevision genuine military slang]]), "snow and fly shit" are salt and pepper.
* ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry2LookingForLoveInSeveralWrongPlaces'': When ordering a "Blue Pate" special at the airport, the woman behind the counter yells to the kitchen to "slop up another bald one!"

* ''Muertitos'' does it [[http://muertitos.comicgenesis.com/d/20060526.html here,]] with a little twist at the end.
--> '''Honeo''': ...What's "pee in the orange juice" mean?\\
'''Death''': It means [[spoiler:she remembers I never tip.]]

* There is a [[https://twitter.com/alphaxalfa/status/731950944972378113?lang=en vine]] made by a user named Alpha Male that showcases a slightly exaggerated use of this trope involving a turkey sandwich.

---> '''Sheen:''' Hey, Carl. Gimme a fat taxi driver with a Polish accent.\\

** Later, when Jimmy tricks the [[AIIsACrapshoot computerized restaurant]] into flying into the sun by ordering four deluxe burgers cooked at 20,000 degrees Fahrenheit, Sheen cries out "A Myth/KingArthur with a hip replacement, on a bed of coals?!".
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** In the episode "Pickles":
--->'''Squidward:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Lemme guess, Tiny, a small salad?]]\\
'''Bubble Bass:''' I'll take [[OvercomplicatedMenuOrder a double triple Bossy deluxe, on a raft, 4x4 animal style, extra shingles with a shimmy and a squeeze, light axle grease, make it cry, burn it, and let it swim]].\\
'''Squidward:''' [[DeadpanSnarker We serve]] ''[[DeadpanSnarker food]]'' [[DeadpanSnarker here, sir.]]
** [=SpongeBob=] himself seems to have his own terminology, shouting out such things as "One Cryin' Johnny!" for a Krabby Patty with extra onions and "One dozen cryin' cows on the farm!" for twelve Krabby Patties on wheat buns in the same episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' takes this trope to the extreme in the pilot when Doug tries to order from the Honker Burger for the first time, and the cashier doesn't even ''understand'' the real names for the menu items:
--> '''Doug:''' Hi, I'd like three hamburgers, one no pickles, one no onions, one fish sandwich, four fries, and four grape sodas.\\
'''Cashier:''' I can't understand a word you say.\\
'''Doug:''' Huh?\\
'''Skeeter:''' Hey, man, let me take care of it. The new kid wants three moo cows, one no cucs, one no stinkers, one wet one, four tubers, and four from the vine. Do you want anything else?\\
'''Doug:''' How do you order a salad from the salad bar?\\
'''Skeeter:''' One salad from the salad bar!
* Just like the aforementioned movie, ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'' contains surprisingly little of this, but when it does it's extremely funny. Kuzco even throws Mata, the lunch lady, into the dungeon (due to his made up school rules) because she spoke hash lingo not even she herself understood.

--> '''Gene:''' Give me a bald Kelly Ripa in a canoe with a brick!\\

--> '''Man 1:''' Can I get two eggs, scrambled, on toast?\\

--> '''Pancho:''' Two cows still mooing and a Hail Caesar, hold the bird. (Two rare steaks & Caesar salad, no chicken)\\

* One of the episodes in the first season of ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' ("Road Worrier") features this. When Daria, Jane, Trent, and Jesse stop a diner on their way to a rock concert:
--> '''Waitress:''' Okay, that's a meatloaf, open turkey with fries, box of Frosted Flakes... those are pretty small, hon. Just one?\\
'''Jesse:''' You're right. Make it five.\\
'''Waitress:''' (''to Daria'') And you?\\
'''Daria:''' Dry toast and tea, please.\\
'''Waitress:''' I thought you looked depressed. You want a booster seat? (short laugh before turning and yelling) Five boxes of flakes and one nausea delight!
* In the ‘’WesternAnimation/HigglytownHeroes’’ episode “The Egg-cellent Adventure” the kids order their breakfast which Ms. Waitress uses this type of lingo. Kip asks about it and the Waitress and the Cook explain it through song.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Not Phineas and Ferb", Major Monogram sets up a short-order message technique to Agent P. "Doof is up, put a stop, curses on the side." When Agent P leaves, Monogram calls out for "Adam and Eve on raft! Wreck 'em!"[[note]]Two scrambled eggs on toast.[[/note]]
--> '''Carl:''' Is that a mission, sir?\\
'''Monogram:''' No, it's my lunch.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'':
** In "Lost!", Arthur oversleeps on the bus and ends up at the edge of town. He then waits for the next bus at a diner, where the waitress responds to his order of a glass of milk by hollering "squeeze me a cow."
** In "Tipping the Scales", Arthur's class ends up having to stop at a diner since the road to Crown City is closed due to a snowstorm. A waitress at the diner is seen asking for "a blonde with sand and a pair of life preservers" (a coffee and two donuts).
* In ''WesternAnimation/GreenEggsAndHam'', when Guy orders dry oatmush with no toppings at Donna's Diner, Donna says "One sadman special!"
* Lisa does this when working at Marge's sandwich shop in the RestaurantOwningEpisode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' including repeating a call for the first-aid kit as "Florence Nightingale in a box, and make it snappy!"

* Many drinks are ordered "on the rocks", which refers to ice.[[note]]Although, geologically speaking, ice is a mineral, and thus may loosely be called a "rock".[[/note]] A lot of people object to diluting high-quality drinks but need a cooling system.
* See also Website/TheOtherWiki, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diner_lingo here.]] Usually not quite as esoteric as what shows up in fiction (particularly comedy), but these gags have to start somewhere.

* Israel has ‘Ovad’s Diner (commonly known as ‘‘Ovad’s Sabikh’) in Giv‘atayim, which is famous for its unique lingo. The Hebrew version of Website/TheOtherWiki used to feature a list of the terms used there.
* In addition to its regular divergences from traditional caffeine drinking thought, Starbucks has a complex enough lingo to actually hinder both their baristas trying to work outside the chain, and outside baristas dealing with the lingo at Starbucks coffee shops.

* Two iconic restaurant chains based in the UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}} metropolitan area, one national and the other local, are well-known for their jargon.
** The Waffle House chain is well-known for its terminology as it relates to orders of its hash browns, including "covered" (with a slice of cheese), "smothered" (with onions), "scattered" (spread across the grill).
** Besides its status as the world's largest drive-in restaurant, The Varsity is also well-known for [[https://thevarsity.com/pages/the-lingo its lingo]], such as "walk a dog" (a hot dog to go) and "glorified steak" (hamburger with lettuce, tomato, and mayo).

''"Adam and Eve on a raft and sink 'em!"''

* In a children's book series featuring kids rescuing and returning lost pets, a book features a parrot who says odd things, frustrating his would-be rescuers who can't figure out where he learned what he's saying or what it means. Eventually the point of view character visits a diner and overhears some of the parrot's phrases being said which prompts her to realize he lives in a diner.

--> '''Honeo''': ...What's "pee in the orange juice" mean?
--> '''Death''': It means [[spoiler:she remembers I never tip.]]

* The Podcast/RiffTrax of ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' contains a bit of this after Bonecrusher scoops up a car in a way that looks like flipping a pancake. It begins as actual diner lingo before spinning off into the absurd, like "Give Aunt Martha a cockroach and mail off a series of strongly worded letters to a fringe publication concerning the tax code!"

--> '''Customer:''' Um, can I have a turkey and cheese sandwich?
--> '''Cashier:''' (to cook) Hey, Frankie, cut the bird's titties off and make it do a somersault! (to customer) You want mayo on that?
--> '''Customer:''' Uh, yeah--
--> '''Cashier:''' (to cook) Make it racist!
--> '''Customer:''' Please don't--

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit,'' Eddie orders "scotch on the rocks" from a Toon waiter, [[LiteralMinded realizes whom he's addressing]] and corrects it to, "And I mean ''ice!''", but they apparently can't resist the gag -- the glass that arrives has ice and ''one'' rock in it.

--> Vala also gets into this when she becomes a waitress during "Memento Mori": "Dead cow on a turban, hold the yellow, extra spud mush." The chef approvingly notes that she's been practicing.

* ''Fantana'' (1905) had a SeparatedByACommonLanguage song titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk3li2Mhf7U "My Word!"]] sung by a Cockney maid character. In the third verse, she recalls her consternation at hearing the waiter echo her order of ham and eggs, butter cakes and black coffee to the back:

* ''Fantana'' (1905) had a SeparatedByACommonLanguage song titled "My Word!" sung by a Cockney maid character. In the third verse, she recalls her consternation at hearing the waiter echo her order for ham and eggs, butter cakes and black coffee to the back as: "Plate of sinkers! Ham and! Draw one in the dark!"

* ''Fantana'' (1905) had a SeparatedByACommonLanguage song titled "My Word!" sung by a Cockney maid character. In the third verse, she recalls her consternation at having her order for ham and eggs, butter cakes and black coffee echoed to the back as: "Plate of sinkers! Ham and! Draw one in the dark!"

* Used occasionally in ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', such as the episode "Pickles":
-->'''Squidward:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Lemme guess, Tiny, a small salad?]]\\

** [[AluminumChristmasTrees As it turns out]], this is [[https://imgur.com/6f2vi actual terminology]] [[labelnote:Translation]]"Double triple" = six layers, "Bossy" = all-beef patties, "deluxe" = all condiments, "on a raft" = on toast, "4x4" = four patties with cheese on each layer, "animal style" = cooked in mustard, "extra shingles" = double layers of bread, "shimmy and a squeeze" = extra sauce, "light axle grease" = butter, "make it cry" = extra onions, "burn it" = well done, and "let it swim" = [[HoldYourHippogriffs a nautical version]] of "let it walk", or "to go"[[/labelnote]], though the meal shown looks like an ordinary Krabby Patty (not the absurd DagwoodSandwich he asked for). (When Andrew Rea made it as described for ''WebVideo/BingingWithBabish'' the thing would not stand on its own and had to be divided into six separate sandwiches, each of which was itself a Dagwood-sized tower and hardly structurally sound either.)