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Diners had a colorful lingo you just don't hear at a Mickey D's

According to restaurant industry sources, Americans dine out as often as five times a week, on average. Seldom, however, are they treated anymore to the special code that once passed between waitresses (or waiters) and short-order cooks in diners and luncheonettes. Those were the fast-food outlets of their day, and the language used to communicate orders were a special part of their charm. "Grass," for example, meant lettuce. And "houseboat": Well, that was shorthand for a banana split. Other examples (in alphabetical order) of lunch counter vocabulary – and their translations – as found in "The Book of Lists for Kids":

Axle grease butter
Blast it the customer wants it served hot
Bowl of birdseed cereal
Bossy in a bowl beef stew
Burn the British toasted English muffin
Dog biscuits crackers
Eve with the lid on apple pie
Moo juice milk
Nervous pudding Jell-O
Paint it red don't forget the ketchup

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