buffet flat
n.— «Have you ever been to a buffet flat? It’s neither a lunchroom nor a variation of a western plain. It’s peculiar to Harlem, yet few white visitors to that Negro haven in New York City ever hear of it, and practically none get into one. In “Emperor Jones,” a picturization of Eugene O’Neill’s famous play…a buffet flat is shown in all its colorful detail. A buffet flat is simply a Harlem apartment to which people come to sit around, eat, drink, talk, sing and dance. » —“Emperor Jones Is Coming” Nevada State Journal (Reno) Dec. 17, 1933. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In Cockney rhyming slang, apples and pears is a synonym for “stairs,” and dustbin lids means kids. Plus, sniglets are clever coinages for things we don’t already have words for. Any guesses what incogsneeto means? It’s the...
National Book Award winner Barry Lopez had wise advice for young writers. First, read widely and follow your curiosity. Second, travel or learn a foreign language. And third, find out what you truly believe, because if you’re not writing from...