hash-house lingo (1886)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Here's an 1886 article from the 19th Century U.S. Newspapers database,
wherein the clerk at a New York hash house explains the local lingo to
the befuddled narrator, then describes the terminology in other
cities.

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St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Aug. 31, 1886, p. 10/1
"Waiters and Orders. Mysterious Language in New York Restaurants"
(From the New York Commercial Advertiser.)
[...]
"To begin with, 'Tommy in the bowl' means one bowl of tomato soup;
'bouillon bowl up' is one bowl of beef soup; 'P. Yankee' is pea soup
and 'somme' is vermicelli. A 'brown-stone front' is a porterhouse
steak and a 'double brown-stone front,' porterhouse for two. 'West
Broadway' means pork and beans and 'haver her brown an' extra brown'
signifies that the beans are to be well warmed over. 'Bobby Blue on
the iron' is broiled codfish. 'Corn from the neighbor' is corned beef,
and the adjunct, 'up and up' means that it must be streak and streak
of fat and lean, while 'put the beans on brown' calls for the addition
of beans to the dish. 'Let the blood follow the knife' is the signal
for roast beef extra rare. 'Spuds' are potatoes, and 'mealo, boilo,
busto' means boiled potatoes that are large, mealy and well cooked.
'T.O.K.' is the call for tapioca pudding, and 'both' means both kinds
of sauce, hard and soft. Suet pudding is 'Catskill,' and 'plum-up' or
'plum Jo' means plum pudding. 'P. with a B.' is a tea biscuit, and
corn bread is indicated by 'brown the Jack,' or 'corn Johnny.' Order
'stars and stripes' and you'll get pork and beans. When coffee or tea
is desired without milk the call is 'coffee no' or 'tea no.'"
[...]
"The Salvation Army runs a very popular restaurant in Chicago. There
butter cakes are called 'three up,' there being three in an order;
eggs fried and turned are 'fry three over;' buckwheat cakes are 'brown
the buck.' Such cries as 'brown the hash and have her extra brown,'
'ham and' for ham and eggs, 'hat mystery' for pie, and similar
expressions are heard constantly. In that place the cooks yell back
the order as loudly as it is yelled at them, and you will hear a
waiter shout 'tree up' and then a cook roar back 'three up, right!'
"In Omaha the most popular restaurant is also the favorite gambling
saloon. There a cup of coffee is 'one on the black' and tea 'one on
the light brown,' and if milk is not wanted the waiter adds 'play it
open.' Water is 'plain Missouri;' a ham sandwich is 'copper the ham;'
a sandwich half ham and half cheese is 'ham split,' and 'stew a
Neptune' is a stew of oysters and clams.
"At the 'Beanery,' the famous Bohemian resort in St. Louis, baked
beans are 'brown the herb brown;' oysters fried are 'the salt seas
over,' or stewed, 'a briny float,' and a boiled chicken is 'a fairy on
the iron.' Soups are always 'bowls,' fish are 'fins,' and coffee is
'let the brown bird go.'
"But the queerest names I ever heard were out in Leadville. I was
there running a palatial dining-house in an unpainted pine shanty
during the palmy days of '79. They had all the terms I've given you
and a good many more. For instance, a steak rarely done was called 'a
moonlight on the lake;' a ham sandwich was 'a chump on horseback,'
and, if mustard was desired, the waiter added 'with a wolf.' Coffee
was 'juice the berry once,' and pancakes were 'saddles.' Ice-cream was
'freeze his liver once' or 'twice,' as the case might be, and liver
and bacon were called 'douse the glim and throw on a header.' I tell
you it was a mighty hard thing for a man out there to tell whether he
was going to eat live stock, household furniture or real estate from
the orders."
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--Ben Zimmer

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