spit take

spit take
 n.— «Spit Take: Reaction to surprise news while drinking a glass of water was so perfected by one man that it will forever be known as the Danny Thomas Spit Take. At the dinner table, Danny’s reaction to any news he didn’t want to hear results in an immediate spray of whatever he was drinking.» —by Turk Pipkin Be a Clown!: The Complete Guide to Instant Clowning Jan. 9, 1989. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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Further reading

Pearls and Sunbeams and After-Dinner Cleanup

A Nevada listener says her mother used to ask her to collect the pearls after a meal, meaning “gather up all the unused dishes and utensils that didn’t need to be washed.” In Australian slang, such an item is often called a sunbeam. This is part of...

Zebra Striping

If you alternate alcoholic beverages with glasses of water over the course of an evening, you’re said to be zebra striping. This bit of slang was inspired by how the animal’s alternating black-and-white markings are like the contrast between the...