Restaurant Slang Word Game

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Martha Barnette.

And I’m Grant Barrett.

And here he is, buckling under the weight of mounds of trivia-laden index cards.

It’s our quiz guide, John Chaneski.

Hi, John.

Hi, Grant.

Hi, Martha.

Yes, you can’t beat the old school way of doing trivia on index cards.

That’s how I like to do it.

Flip, flip, flip.

Here we go.

Oh, here’s one.

This is perfect.

Let’s do this one.

I love getting hooked on TV shows that expose me to a world of language.

Now, I’ve been an actor for a long time, but I’ve never worked in a restaurant.

So I’m really enjoying The Bear, which takes place in a Chicago kitchen.

It’s chock full of kitchen slang.

So I created this quiz.

I fired this quiz.

Fire means to get a dish cooking.

Now, I’ll make up a sentence you might hear in a professional kitchen, and I’ll substitute a synonym or phrase for the kitchen slang.

You give me the word or phrase I’m looking for.

For example, if I said, I have two people coming in, better clean up that low card, the answer would be deuce, which is a term for a table that seats two.

And low card is a deuce.

Okay?

Not a two-top?

Yeah, or a two-top.

You can call it a two-top, sure.

Now, some of these you may already know, and some you can probably figure out.

So here we go.

Order up.

Could you possibly get me some help here?

I’m really among the invasive plants.

In the kutu?

In the weeds.

In the weeds, yes.

In the weeds means really busy in a kitchen.

Now, we’re out of anchovies, so two times 43, that pesto special.

86.

86.

86.

Remove it, yeah.

Look, there’s a restaurant critic over there.

Be sure to treat a surfboard that table.

Wax?

Yes.

If you wax a table, you give it special treatment.

Like if the owner’s family is there or something.

That’s really good.

I finished that steak order for table 12.

It’s waiting for you on the football throw.

Pass?

Pass, yeah.

That’s the name for the window, the pass-through window that they put the orders on.

The pass.

Oh, hey, table 12 sent back that steak and fries.

It’s a perished dish.

Do you want a few fries?

It’s burned, right?

Something like that.

Close.

Dead?

Yes.

Dead, okay.

Dead, and the synonym for dish.

Dead plate?

Yeah, dead plate.

A dead plate is unservable dish.

Somebody sent it back or something like that.

You know, sometimes the kitchen staff will, you know, maybe take a fry or two.

Yeah.

Look, I don’t care if you’re in a hurry.

Your uniform needs to be clean if you’re going out on the level.

Floor?

Yes, the floor is the dining room itself.

And people who work in the kitchen have to be neat if they’re going out on the floor.

Thanks to the movie premiere across the street, we had a ton of lids last night.

Covers.

Covers, yes.

Covers means customers.

Very good.

I think you guys are ready to get to work.

So, you know, strap on an apron and get to it.

That’s fantastic.

John, I hope you’ll join us for the family meal.

You know what that is.

That’s when the staff makes food for the people who work there, when the customers aren’t around.

Yeah, that’s right.

Yeah.

Excellent.

Well, thank you so much, John.

And we hope you’ll join us.

Just pull up a chair to talk about language.

877-929-9673 or send your questions and stories about language to words@waywordradio.org.