this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2025
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Asklemmy

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[โ€“] [email protected] 97 points 2 days ago (2 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (3 children)

why do we do this? Is it an american thing?

[โ€“] [email protected] 13 points 2 days ago

Yes, from a general misunderstanding of how microwave ovens work, and what "radiation" was during the 1960s and 70s.

https://kitchenpearls.com/why-do-we-say-nuke-for-microwave/

[โ€“] [email protected] 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think it's because microwaves use, well, microwave radiation

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

radiation exists in like everything to some small degree tho right?

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

The issue is the ambuguity in what someone intends when they just say radiation. It is valid to call any electromagnetic wave radiation. However, as for health concerns, what matters is "ionizing radiation." Microwaves are too low energy to be ionizing, so they don't match what most people think of when they say radiation with the implication of ionizing.

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

Canadian here. I also "nuke it".

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

That's what my house says too lol

[โ€“] [email protected] 37 points 2 days ago

Microwave it, use it as a verb

[โ€“] [email protected] 26 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Let's excite these water molecules until they vibrate so hard it generates heat that transfers to surrounding atoms

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

heat itself being the average kinetic energy of said vibrating molecules makes the heat part of that sentence redundant. Now make me a sandwich

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

Abra cadabra, you are now a sandwich.

Iโ€™ll show myself out.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Molecules can also vibrate not hard enough to generate enough heat to warm their surroundings though.

Here, I made a roasted goat testicle marinated in a tuna eyeball reduction topped with lettuce, tomatoes, olives, onions, uncooked rice, and taint shavings sammich. Bone apple titties

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Other than the taint shavings, that actually sounds like it could be good, albeit very crunchy

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The taint shavings are harvested from Jennifer Lawrence

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

scoops some up in a tupperware

For my next sammich

[โ€“] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

When I microwave something I generally say that I'm microwaving it.

[โ€“] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

When I worked at McDonald's in 2015, we called it Q-ing. That's what the official term was. We got in trouble for calling it anything else.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Are you sure it wasn't "queuing?" As in, "I'm queuing up some food to be cooked for our queue of orders."

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Nope, it was written "Q-ing" on the "Q-ing Oven" itself, as well as in the training materials and manuals!

Edit: here's the manual for it!

[โ€“] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Generally "nuke it" but occasionally zap make an appearance, microwave as a verb, and sometimes me-crow-wa-vay if I'm feeling extra

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I've also used "nuke" but recently "irradiate" has been funnier.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Ooh, I'll try that one. Tbh, nuke isn't said for the funny. It's just what it was called when I was a kid. I never really considered it as a term until I was well into adulthood lol

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

It was probably said as a joke at some point, and just became normal.

The same way I've started using irradiate. It's technically accurate, but normally a word used in much more concerning context.

Hence, funny :D

[โ€“] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

I say microwave

[โ€“] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago

I use Nuke.

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

We speak Mandarin at home and microwave in Mandarin is ๅพฎๆณข "way bo" (literally means "micro wave"). To "microwave" as a verb usually gets shortened to the first character in colloquial speak. We ๅพฎ "way" our leftovers.

ๅพฎๆณข means microwave as in that particular frequency range on the electromagnetic spectrum. When referring to the kitchen appliance as a noun, we specifically say ๅพฎๆณข็‚‰ "way bo lu" which means "microwave stove."

Additional fun fact: If you think it sounds like Weibo the website, you're right. It has almost the same pronounciation but has a tonal difference on the second character. Weibo means "micro blog," same first character but the second character is ๅš which is a loan word for blog.

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

We say "ugh, there is too much stuff in front of the microwave, do you mind eating it cold?"

And I think that's beautiful.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

I feel that. I eat so much stuff cold.

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

Activate the magnetron!

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago
[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Funnily enough, there is no single word for this in German of all languages. You just say "heat something up in the microwave". The standard verb form would be "mikrowellieren", but I've never heard anyone say that.

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

Chef Mike's cooking

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Mick-rowave. Based on how Jen pronounces it in Bob's Burgers

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Meek row wah vay

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

Put it in the science oven!

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

"Nuke it for about 30"

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

I say "zap it" myself. idk it just rolls off the tongue really nice

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Gonna put it in the spicy light box

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

We "ding" the food

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)
[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)
[โ€“] YurkshireLad 2 points 2 days ago

I think Iโ€™ve used both zap and microwave.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Putting the food in the John McCain memorial hot box.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago