Need a slang term that can replace just about any noun? Try chumpie. If you’re from Philadelphia, you may already know this handy placeholder word. And there’s Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan, and … The Bronx — why do we add the definite...
McPaul lives in Montclair, New Jersey, but grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, where several casual restaurants spelled the name of their establishment as dinor rather than diner, as in Stan’s Dinor. This spelling variant is largely limited to...
A small eating place where the food is not particularly good is sometimes called a grab-it-and-growl. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Grab-it-and-Growls” Grant, do you know what a grab it and growl is? A grab it and growl, a...
Whatever the amount might be, “as much food as one’s hand can hold” is how Samuel Johnson defined the luncheon in his 1755 dictionary entry. Over the two centuries since, we’ve seen more than a handful of takes on lunch, and it’s the subject of a...
Nathaniel, a vegetarian in Vermillion, South Dakota, encountered a tavern sandwich after moving from Kansas City and wondered why a word for a drinking place also names a sandwich. The sandwich is a loose-meat sandwich on a hamburger bun, familiar...
maitre-dish
n.— «Both worked at the Fog City Diner; Doug as bartender, Nancy as “maitre-dish.”» —“After a few years, he fit the picture” by Louise Rafkin San Francisco Chronicle (California) July 19, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)