tube steak

So put down those tube steaks and sharpen your pencils.

Having lived in Philadelphia for 29 years, I never heard of a tube steak.

But in the world of the tube steak, the meat and what it's served with are what matter.

To avoid confusion with "show-off," some slanguists are using tube steak rather than hot dog.

In that regard, let us recoil in unison from tube steaks, the misleading new name for frankfurters.

"They call him Tube Steak.

"Washington Tube Steak"

"Blue-plate special" is fairly easy, but how do you translate into German "tube steak and repeaters," the diner-speak for hot dogs and beans?

To the Editor: Patricia Volk mentions the Philly Tube Steak on the Nedick's menu.

"People come in, they say, 'Gimme a tube steak,' " Mr. Cohen said, beaming out from under a red baseball cap with Hebrew National emblazoned above the brim.

Sold from pushcarts labeled "Polser," the tube steaks come thick or thin, grilled or boiled, and topped with dried onions, sweet pickles and tangy rémoulade sauce, generally about 20 kroner.

Crew cashmere sweater with Chip and Pepper Tube Steak jeans and New Balance sneakers; Chip will combine a Marc Jacobs sweater with Chip and Pepper 87 jeans and John Galliano boots.

Tube steaks are what the 67-year-old Mr. Cohen, along with many steady customers, calls the consistently crispy, strictly kosher frankfurters that he has been selling since 1941 at Leo's Famous, near 30th Street on the Avenue of the Americas, better known as Sixth Avenue.