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Soda Jerk slang -- anybody got a source?

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Joe Myers

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Jun 17, 2001, 4:15:30 PM6/17/01
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Writing a scene, set in the 20s, with a soda jerk.

Tried some web searches, but haven't found what I'm looking for.

"86" meant "off the menu" originally.

For all I know, "23-skidoo" meant something in the parlance of soda jerkdom.

But I remember stuff like "Adam & Eve on a Raft," meaning "2 eggs on toast."

Anybody got a reference source for this kinda stuff?

Joe Myers
"Any help'd be darb."


Steve Trautmann

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Jun 17, 2001, 5:20:55 PM6/17/01
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You might try thumbing through some John O'Hara short stories, or other writers
from the era.

Steve Trautmann
Kitchona Software - www.kitchona.com

MC

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Jun 17, 2001, 7:40:29 PM6/17/01
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KNB Burroughs

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Jun 18, 2001, 12:10:22 AM6/18/01
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Try searching for diner shortorder slang. Much of the same from what I
understand.

"Slap some shoes on it..." --- order to go.


--
===================
Kate Johnson Burroughs
nytn...@iastate.edu

=====================
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Bob Miller

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Jun 18, 2001, 9:00:25 AM6/18/01
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"Joe Myers" <very...@mindspring.com> wrote:

Try the links at http://cyberflapr.tripod.com/links.htm

Bob

ManhattanEET

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Jun 18, 2001, 9:59:27 AM6/18/01
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>For all I know, "23-skidoo" meant something in the parlance of soda jerkdom.

23rd street in New York is a particularly windy corner, with wind whipping down
broadway, knifing past the Flatiron building.

I'ms told that cops in the 20's used "23-skidoo" as code when they saw the wind
blow up a woman's skirt.

>"86" meant "off the menu" originally.

This one is rumored to be about Chumley's Bar (86 Bedford St.). It has two
entrances, and when someone was tossed out the Bedford St. side, they were
"86'ed."

Ever read Luc Sante's "Low Life?" Great book, goo for this kind of lore.


------------------
"The word's suppression gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness."
--Lenny Bruce

dti

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Jun 18, 2001, 4:33:16 PM6/18/01
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Hi Joe,
"86" doesn't just mean it's off the menu. It means several things and is
used over and over in the course of a day in a restaurant or diner. One is
that it's no longer available because they ran out. The term is also used
to mean "trash it." You "86" something when you throw it away. So, some
examples...you come in one day to work and they tell you, pecan pie is
"86-ed" today. Or you find you're no longer on the schedule - you've been
"86-ed." You're wiping a table with a rag that's seen better days, the boss
tells you to "86" it and get a new one.

Here are some other terms for you:
Rye bread = "whiskey" (easier to discern whiskey from white than rye from
white, when you're calling to the cook in a noisy kitchen)
Rye toast = "whiskey down" (any kind of toast is "down")
A grilled cheese = "Jack" (which is a pronunciation of its abbreviation, GAC
which stands for Grilled American Cheese)
Grilled cheese with tomato = "Jack Tommy"
Grilled cheese with bacon = "Jack Back"
Grilled cheese with bacon and tomato = "Jack Back Tommy"
Grilled Swiss Cheese = "Jack Swiss"
Grilled Swiss Cheese with Tomato and Bacon on Rye = "Jack Swiss Back Tommy
Whiskey"
Pancakes = "Stack"
Pancakes with Bacon = "Stack Back"

I never used the term Adam and Eve on a raft. But I know that Adam and Eve
are not just two eggs but 2 eggs and a sausage or something (Eve being the
eggs, Adam the sausage - get it? hardy har). Usually eggs are written and
said a certain way.
2/1 means 1 order of 2 eggs. That's how you write the order but you say "2
over one"
3/1 = 1 order of 3 eggs
2/3 = 3 orders of 2 eggs each
OE = Over Easy (flipped, yoke runny)
OM = Over Medium (flipped, yoke soft but not runny)
OW = Over Well (flipped, yoke fully cooked)
UP - sunnyside up (not flipped, and can be up soft, up medium or up well.
Soem people don't like 'em flipped but want the yoke cooked)
So, for example, you would shout, "2 over 2 scrambled well! 2 over 1 over
easy! 2 over one poached soft whiskey down! Stack with 1 egg up well!"
And like that.
I'll give you more as I remember 'em. Been a while.
--
Diane I.
Life is good.
My email account is at nyc.rr.com addressed to dti


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