[Atticus]

I have heard them called murder burgers, belly burners (or bombers), sliders and rat burgers. The shakes (which are quite good) were called "s_it shakes." I used to go to the one in Orange and the women who worked there (some of whom had been there for decades) would get very agitated when we asked for "rat burgers." White Castle restaurants were decorated with signs that read, "French Fries: Stored Sunshine" and "Hamburgers for Breakfast, Why Not? "Also, there was an urban legend that during WWII there was a shortage of beef and White Caste made their burgers with kangaroo meat.

[discostu]

I remember hearing about teh kangaroo meat rumor, nothing has ever been proven (IMHO how the hell do you get enough kangaroo meat to matter up to America in WWII).

I love the signs at WCs. A lot of people don't realize how important WC was to the evolution of the American pallet. Hamburgers weren't considered civilized food before WC, sandwiches as a whole were kind of looked down on. Then the WC founder came up with this brilliant idea: the SHINY white store, and those goofball ads showing upper class people enjoying the food. Basically he banished the the grungy construction worker image. WC is the thing most responsible for every fastfood joint on the planet, and the fact that burgers are now considered food anywhere in the country (oh sure some people make "gourmet burgers" but it's still a burger).

And they're still gross in a highly addictive way all these years later. Shear brilliance.