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Nuke it.
this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2025
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Asklemmy
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why do we do this? Is it an american thing?
Yes, from a general misunderstanding of how microwave ovens work, and what "radiation" was during the 1960s and 70s.
I think it's because microwaves use, well, microwave radiation
radiation exists in like everything to some small degree tho right?
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.
Canadian here. I also "nuke it".
That's what my house says too lol
I say microwave
When I microwave something I generally say that I'm microwaving it.
Microwave it, use it as a verb
Generally "nuke it" but occasionally zap make an appearance, microwave as a verb, and sometimes me-crow-wa-vay if I'm feeling extra
I've also used "nuke" but recently "irradiate" has been funnier.
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
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
Let's excite these water molecules until they vibrate so hard it generates heat that transfers to surrounding atoms
heat itself being the average kinetic energy of said vibrating molecules makes the heat part of that sentence redundant. Now make me a sandwich
Abra cadabra, you are now a sandwich.
Iโll show myself out.
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
Other than the taint shavings, that actually sounds like it could be good, albeit very crunchy
The taint shavings are harvested from Jennifer Lawrence
*retches*
scoops some up in a tupperware
For my next sammich
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 which is a loan word for blog.
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.
Are you sure it wasn't "queuing?" As in, "I'm queuing up some food to be cooked for our queue of orders."
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!
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.
Nuke it
This is the one
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.
I feel that. I eat so much stuff cold.
"Nuke it for about 30"
Activate the magnetron!
Nuke it
Mick-rowave. Based on how Jen pronounces it in Bob's Burgers
Meek row wah vay
Chef Mike's cooking
Put it in the science oven!
I say "zap it" myself. idk it just rolls off the tongue really nice
Putting the food in the John McCain memorial hot box.
We "ding" the food
Applebees it
Gonna put it in the spicy light box
I think Iโve used both zap and microwave.
warm it