Mixin's Ice Cream Shop - Soda Jerk Lingo

ice cream lingo

Please note: Many of the terms in this dictionary are historical terms from the 1930s and 1940s. They were used by "soda jerks" at the time, and are not currently in use at Mixin's or most other establishments. We present them for entertainment value only, and with no intention of sexism, racism, or discrimination of any kind.

Index: b / c / d / e / f / h / l / m / o / p / r / s / v / w

B

Black & White

A milkshake, frappe, or malted made with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. Also applies to an ice cream soda. Give one a try today with our Malted Vanilla Ice Cream!!

Black Cow

An ice cream soda made by mixing root beer syrup and a small amount of cream in the bottom of a glass, adding soda water, and topping off with vanilla ice cream.

Bon Bons

French for candy in general, but in English, refers to various chocolates with ice cream inside.

The Broadway

A cousin of a Black Cow: an ice cream soda made by mixing chocolate syrup and a small amount of cream in the bottom of a glass, adding soda water, and topping off with coffee ice cream.

Butterfat Content

The percent by weight of fat in an ice cream mixture before freezing. Butterfat is the fat in cream from a cow. Skim milk, 1% milk, 2% milk, whole milk (3.5%), half-and-half, light cream, medium cream, and heavy cream are all very similar except for the amount of butterfat they contain.

C

Cabinet

In Rhode Island, a milkshake made with ice cream.

Check the Vanila

A communication between ice cream scoopers to check out the plain, but attractive person in the store.

Chocolate Beans

Another name for the candy, M&M's®. Not to be confused with cocoa beans.

Chocolate Jots

Another name for the candy, M&M's®.

Chocolate Sundae

An ice cream sundae made with chocolate syrup, not hot fudge (see "hot fudge" for more details). While hot fudge sundaes are more popular, chocolate sundaes are just as delicious.

C. M. P.

In areas of central Pennsylvania, this is a sundae made with chocolate syrup, marshmallow, and peanuts.

Crowd

Three scoops of ice cream.

D

Dasher

The large, turning mixer and scraper inside the canister of a hand-crank ice cream freezer. When homemade ice cream has just been made, and the dasher is removed, lots of fresh, luscious ice cream clings to it, and, according to legend, this is the best ice cream in the batch!

Decorettes

A term for sprinkles.

Dipping Cabinet

A specialized freezer with multiple lids, heavy-duty insulation, and curved upper surfaces designed to minimize exterior air currents. These are specifically designed for the professional service of ice cream. Although some boards of health may say this is bad practice, commonly lids may be left open during busy times without compromising the texture or sanitation of the ice creams. Sadly, many dipping cabinets are still in the early ages of development, since there are still very serious issues related to uneven temperatures throughout the interior of the cabinet that remain.

Dusty Miller

A chocolate sundae with malted milk powder sprinkled on top.

Dusty Road

A dish of ice cream sprinkled with malted milk powder.

E

Egg Cream

In New York, a plain soda (see below for more information), made with soda water, syrup, and cream. This drink was originally called "soda et creme", from the French, "soda and cream". New Yorkers dropped the "soda" in the name, and instead of saying "et creme" found it easier to say "egg cream." Ever since the name change, everyone has wondered why a treat with the word "egg" in it does not actually have eggs. An egg cream is a light and refreshing drink made in only vanilla or chocolate flavors.

Essemets

A term for sprinkles.

F

Frappe

In Boston and eastern Massachusetts, this is what the rest of the country calls a "milkshake:" a drink traditionally made with ice cream, milk, and syrup, and beaten on a milkshake mixing machine.

H

Handful

Five of anything: "Handful plus one" means six; "a handful plus a pair" means seven; "handful plus a crowd" means eight.

Hot Fudge

A very warm, thick chocolate sauce used as a topping for sundaes (not to be confused with "chocolate syrup" (see above)). Too often these days a just-barely warm or even room-temperature sauce is passed off as "hot fudge." When making actual fudge candy, the ingredients are of course heated together to over 200°F. Originally, hot fudge for ice cream sundaes was literally "hot fudge." Until just recently, this was still the case at "At The Hop" ice cream parlor in Bath, New Hampshire, which obtained its hot fudge from the fudge-making operation next door in The Brick Store (itself the oldest general store in the country).

Hundreds & Thousands

British term for sprinkles

L

Ladybug

An attractive, dapper male ice cream server around whom female customers like to gather.

Leaning Tower of Reeze-a

A very tall pile of boxes of Reese's® Peanut Butter Cups, which is beginning to lean but has not fallen. Occasionally such a pile can be found in our stores.

M

M&M®

Included in our lingo dictionary only for the clarification on the singular and the plural. The singular form is "an M&M®." Note that "an M" is not generally used by literate society as the singular. The plural is "M&M's®," of course, and spelled that way too. It is not a possessive; however, this spelling is based on the grammatical rule that if a word ends with a single capital letter that stands for something else, such as in an acronym, then an apostrophe, in fact, and an "s," are used to make it plural.

Malked Milk (or just "Malt")

Powdered milk with malted barley. It is added to milkshakes or frappes to make a malted milkshake or malted frappe. It has a hefty, thick flavor. At Mixin's, we add it directly to vanilla and chocolate ice cream to make our Malted Vanilla and Malted Chocolate Ice Cream flavors.

Milkshake

1. In most of the country, this is a drink traditionally made with ice cream, milk, and syrup, and beaten on a milkshake mixing machine. 2. In Boston and eastern Massachusetts, it is a drink made with milk and syrup (no ice cream), and beaten on a milkshake mixing machine. It is light and frothy, not creamy and thick like the drink described in definition #1.

Milkshake or Frappe Float

A milkshake or frappe made normally (both made with ice cream), with another scoop of ice cream added to the mixture after it has been removed from the mixer. Also referred to as a "side car".

Mix One With Legs

"Make a beverage to go."

Mix-In

A dish of any flavor of ice cream at Mixin's into which is mixed, any of nuts, candies, and fruits available, to the customer's liking, by manual use of a scoop and spade on a special board on the front counter.

O

One on the City

A glass of water.

Overrun

The percent by volume of unfrozen, liquid, ice cream mixture by which the finished ice cream has increased during freezing due to the incorporation of air. Most bulk half-gallons from supermarkets are about 100% overrun (half air). Mixin's is much lower than that. A low-overrun ice cream is richer, creamier, lingers longer in the mouth, is more filling, melts more slowly, stands up better to hot fudge and soda water, and makes for thicker milkshakes or frappes with ice cream.

P

Plain Soda

In the Boston area, it is a drink made with soda water, syrup, and cream and/or milk. It is like an ice cream soda without any ice cream; similar to an "egg cream" (see above).

P's & Q's

Pints and quarts.

Polar Bear

The person on the staff of an ice cream store who is responsible for the removal of frost, snow, and ice from the walk-in freezer, as well as cleaning the floor and shelves therein and similar frigid tasks. The Polar Bear wears a coat, warm socks, a hat and gloves even in July to execute their chilly responsibilities. The freezer maintains an ambient temperature of approximately 7°F above zero and a high wind circulation for even interior temperatures.

R

Reese's®

Included in the lingo dictionary because we need a clarification as to pronunciation. The last syllable does NOT rhyme with "me," as though the word were spelled "Rees-ies." The name rhymes with "nieces" or "ceases."

S

Scoop Well

A very small, usually rectangular basin holding scoops and spades through which water constantly flows to clean them. It is not an appeal to ice cream servers to do a good job. Also known as a "dipwell." The Dipwell Company, which makes thousands of scoop wells for ice cream companies, including Baskin-Robbins and Dairy Queen, recently moved from Erie, Pennsylvania to Northampton, Massachusetts. Officials of the company frequent Mixin's Ice Cream to make sure their equipment works properly.

Scooperpunk

A rude ice cream server wearing a stocking cap.

Shots

A term for sprinkles.

Side Car

The scoop of ice cream floating in a root beer or cola float, or in a milkshake or frappe float.

Skirt

Ice cream which hangs out and over the edge of an ice cream cone.

Smarties

What the British call M&M® candies (also a type of American candy, unrelated to M&M's® or Smarties).

Spade

An ice cream tool shaped something like a windshield scraper or a small, flattened shovel used to push down ice cream remaining behind on the inside walls of a tub after previous scooping from that tub; also used to hand-pack pints and quarts, and to make Mix-ins®.

Suds

A term for root beer

Suds with a Side Car

A root bear float

V

Vertically Packed

An unadvertised specialty at Mixin's; it is a method for hand-packing a pint or quart which has two flavors in it, skillfully packed side-by-side and not just one on top of the other, so that either flavor or both may be accessed and enjoyed without having to finish the top one first.

W

White & Black

A milkshake, frappe, or malted made with chocolate ice cream and vanilla syrup. Also applies to an ice cream soda.