Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

I've always thought that the slider was originally a White Castle item.  They were founded in Wichita in 1921, selling hamburgers for a nickel, then for a dime, buty they held the line on the dime price, shrinking the burger instead.

But when did it get called the slider?

I ran across a site this morning that said the original slider name was applied to a hamburger was served on US Navy ships in WWII, and later applied to the burgers of White Castle.  Using the ngram viewer, I find that in a 1950 book, someone said that instead of a Loco Moco, he'd like a Loco Moco slider instead.

So off to find out that aq Loco Moco is white rice topped by a burger patty, topped by fried egg, covered with brown gravy.  It's Hawaiian comfort food, but it sounds like slider is being used to designate *size* if the burger. Hmmm. A lot of navy folk at Pearl Harbor!

Now, I'm wondering if the navy sliders were small as well.  

When I first heard the White Castle burgers called sliders, I asked why.  They're gut bombs, baby.  They slide in easy, and keep on sliding until tey get to the other end.  OK, I suppose, but sliders are NOT especially greasy.  They don't seem to shrink at all in cooking.  They can hardlt afford to; McDonald's burger patties are small at 1.6 ounces (10 to the pound) but it takes 20 sliders tp kmake an uncooked pound.  Seems to me that they put butter down and melt it, scatter onions, they lay rhe burgers on top to steam, the buns being steamed atop the burgers.  Forgive me my errors, I haven't lives near a white castle for a couple of decades.  A story goes around that they use organ meat, some specifying liver, sa well as muscle tissue in their meat, but I *like* liver, and I've never detected that taste.

In any case, I have to wonder when the "aluminum room" burgers got the nickname "slider" and how big the Navy "sliders" were.

I had an uncle in the Navy in WWII, who just died in April.  Drat. Another reason to miss him, not that I didn't have plenty of other reasons.  Damned thoughtless of him to die without calling "Last round, fellas!  Drink up!"

These days, everybody and his brother is offering a "slider" option on their menu, and it seems improbable that they'd give their sandwiches a name that claims the food will physic you good, but there you go.  Dictionaries seem to have the term, not labeling it slang, with no indication of the source, just saying that it's a very small sandwich, especially a hamburger. 

I'd love it if the name came from Bob Feller getting POed while eating White Castles, and throwing a burger at some jerk.