20 phrases you need to know to work as a soda jerk
A soda jerk Image by Getty Images
Editor’s Note: Our lox columnist has written about his past life as a soda jerk in the Bronx during the 1940s and 50s. At that time, working in that trade meant you had to speak the language of the lunch counter. We asked Len for a list of some of the most memorable phrases he used back then. Memorize them and you could be on your way to being a soda jerk too:
86: We’re out of it
95: A customer left without paying
99: The boss or an inspector is on the premises
Adam and Eve on a raft: 2 poached eggs on toast
Adam’s ale: a glass of water
All black: chocolate soda with chocolate ice cream
Black and white: chocolate soda with vanilla ice cream
Burn one: Make a hamburger on the grill
Cow juice: milk
Dead eye: a poached egg
GABC: a grilled American cheese sandwich with bacon
High and dry: a sandwich with nothing on it
Houseboat: a banana split
In the alley: on the side
Oh gee: Orange ade
On the hoof: cooked rare
On wheels: to go
Sea dust: salt
Stretch one, paint it red: Cherry Coke
Yum yum: sugar
Len Berk is the Forward’s loc columnist. He worked behind the counter at Zabar’s for 26 years.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
