# Why is there no nickname for "microwave"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 7, 2007, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497 "2007-11-07T01:40:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/21 "2007-11-07T03:23:27Z")
My wife calls it the micro, just to add another data point ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/22 "2007-11-07T03:24:41Z")
[QUOTE=AudreyK] If someone told me to pop the leftovers in the mike, I would be totally lost. [/QUOTE] You would seriously have no clue, based on context? Wow. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/23 "2007-11-07T03:32:13Z")
I call mine “Steve.” ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/24 "2007-11-07T03:33:47Z")
I have never heard “mike” or “micro” used for a microwave in my life. I would also be looking for a microphone or perhaps a 1980’s style microcomputer laying around. Is this just a coincidence that the handful of people that use these terms for microwave belong to this board and stumbled upon this thread? My life includes a pretty broad U.S. regional sampling and I am finding it hard to believe people actually use those terms. Is there a single example from TV, radio, or other mass media that you might share? I have heard “nuker” and “zapper” however. I can bullshit on the others except when localized to very specific households and people in the U.S. However, I can believe there are those terms may be used in other countries. Here is the online definition for “Mike” and it doesn’t include any sort of microwave: [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Mike&sa=X&oi=glossary\_definition&ct=title](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Mike&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title) Neither does “Micro” [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Micro&sa=X&oi=glossary\_definition&ct=title](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Micro&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/25 "2007-11-07T03:37:23Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] You would seriously have no clue, based on context? Wow. [/QUOTE] Well yes Q.E.D. Would know what to do if someone ask you to work on the “Personal” one day? It is short for personal computer after all and should be obvious to anyone that is in the same room as a computer right? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/26 "2007-11-07T03:41:13Z")
Well, “nuke” does have a rather specific slang meaning, outside nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants. It means, “to subject to intense radiation”, but does not specify what type of radiation. And the most intense radiation in the average home is inside the microwave. I have occasionally called the microwave the “nuker”, but that’s rare. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/27 "2007-11-07T04:26:29Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] I have never heard “mike” or “micro” used for a microwave in my life. I would also be looking for a microphone or perhaps a 1980’s style microcomputer laying around. Is this just a coincidence that the handful of people that use these terms for microwave belong to this board and stumbled upon this thread? My life includes a pretty broad U.S. regional sampling and I am finding it hard to believe people actually use those terms. Is there a single example from TV, radio, or other mass media that you might share? I have heard “nuker” and “zapper” however. I can bullshit on the others except when localized to very specific households and people in the U.S. However, I can believe there are those terms may be used in other countries. Here is the online definition for “Mike” and it doesn’t include any sort of microwave: > **[Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Mike&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title)** Neither does “Micro” > **[Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Micro&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title)** [/QUOTE] Oh, you very smart person, you. With your mad google skillz, I must retreat in humiliation, my reputation in ruins, for trying to pull a fast one on you. Of course shortening a multisyllabic word into just one syllable is so uncommon, too. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/28 "2007-11-07T04:35:43Z")
> **[Urban Dictionary: Mike](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mike)** > > Mike is a person who is caring, loving, protective, kind, stubborn, hardheaded, a good listener, and hilarious. He can make you laugh and want to smack him all at once. He is good in bed, and tends to be on the wild side most days. He is an amazing... For your example of not being able to understand the meaning of the word mike, even in context, when you offered up ‘personal’ for a PC, I know that I have seen it in print, and heard it more than once, referred to as a ‘comp.’ Does this confuse you as well? A microphone is a mike, too. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/29 "2007-11-07T04:42:56Z")
it’s only 3 syllables. about as much reason to shorten it as ‘you’ to ‘u’. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/30 "2007-11-07T04:45:27Z")
[QUOTE=shijinn] it’s only 3 syllables. about as much reason to shorten it as ‘you’ to ‘u’. [/QUOTE] So why would microphone be shortened, but not microwave? Try a different argument. ---
**Author:** ![stucco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@stucco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stucco)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/31 "2007-11-07T05:04:41Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] I call mine “Steve.” [/QUOTE] Haha, I’m going to go Steve some noodles. Want me to pop those leftovers in the Steve? I’m going to try it and see how many housemates I can bring with me. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/32 "2007-11-07T05:14:42Z")
At work everyone calls it the microwave, and all the American Born use it to nuke their dinners. The immigrants cook their stuff in it. Some of them spoke English at home, too. Never heard it called a mike, or a nuker. Never heard of anyone “miking” anything either, which I would expect to follow within hours of the first use of mike for the device. Tris ---
**Author:** ![IrreverentTone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@IrreverentTone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IrreverentTone)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/33 "2007-11-07T05:27:39Z")
Mike was what we called the appliance at home. As in I’m going to mike it instead of messing up a saucepan. We were some of the first in the neighborhood to have one in the mid-seventies and nicknamed the thing almost immediately. And we did have a microphone, too, for the reel-to-reel tape recorder, but the appliance in daily use got the nickname. Now I probably say nuke more often but mike still pops out once in a while. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/34 "2007-11-07T09:15:49Z")
When I was a kid in NZ, everyone I knew called Microwave Ovens “Mikes”- but you didn’t “Mike” your food, you “Nuked” it: _“I’m going to nuke some pies in the mike, does anyone else want one?”_ ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/35 "2007-11-07T09:44:29Z")
[QUOTE=drewbert] Nobody else pops it in the 'wave? [/QUOTE] Like, totally, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/36 "2007-11-07T09:50:18Z")
[QUOTE=stucco] Haha, I’m going to go Steve some noodles. Want me to pop those leftovers in the Steve? I’m going to try it and see how many housemates I can bring with me. [/QUOTE] Well, I already make hamburgers with my George. Mmmm, George burgers. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/37 "2007-11-07T09:56:38Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] I can bullshit on the others except when localized to very specific households and people in the U.S. [/QUOTE] Put “micro” and some cooking related terms into Google and find out how wrong you are. It seems to be far from universal, but not an insignificant usage by any means. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/38 "2007-11-07T10:59:00Z")
Lorraine, you sure know how to hydrate a pizza. ---
**Author:** ![SomeUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@SomeUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeUserName)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/39 "2007-11-07T11:00:42Z")
I have always heard it referred to as “the nuker”, never heard any of the other terms. TV remote is a clicker. I have never heard it referred to as a zapper. Mike to me means microphone. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497/40 "2007-11-07T13:06:13Z")
[QUOTE=fisha] So why would microphone be shortened, but not microwave? … [/QUOTE] microphone would be the exception rather than the norm isn’t it? i’ve never heard of ‘mike’ for microwave and it sure sounds odd to me, it’s like trying to shorten microphone to ‘phone’. sure you can figure it out on context but the short form is already taken. so what are the options for microwave that would not be ambiguous? micro, mike, wave, emdoubleyou or just call it something else altogether like nuke. nuker? ugh, it’s just 3 syllables. * * * microwave it from the kitchen, it’s the only way to cook. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nickname-for-microwave/425497.md?page=3)