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The story is that I want someone to come earlier to the dining table as food is hot now but in ten minutes it would not be.

How in American English can I say to someone to come early, as food on the table is getting cold or losing heat?

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"Hurry up, your food has a negative temperature gradient." – JAB Jun 17 '11 at 19:28

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up vote 23 down vote accepted

Your dinner is getting cold will be quite acceptable I think. Dunno if there are any idiomatic synonyms though.

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+1 I answered the same but deleted when I saw you beat me by 14 seconds. Note that the name of any meal may be substituted for "dinner" in this timeless bit of nagging heard from moms everywhere. I'd bet moms have a version of this in all languages. "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Rants" or something like that ... – Robusto Jun 17 '11 at 13:37
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@Robusto It was first that popped to mind. Dunno why, but this phrase is associated with dinner to me. Probably, I was too hungry after good night sleep to be late for breakfast :) – Philoto Jun 17 '11 at 13:41
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First thing that popped into my mind, too. My guess is that's it tends to be associated with dinner because that's the meal that is most likely to be served hot. – Peter Shor Jun 17 '11 at 13:49
up vote 20 down vote

Get it while it's hot is an alternative to your dinner's getting cold.

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@Fumble: Philoto's answer was posted an hour earlier, not later – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Jun 17 '11 at 18:49
@BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft: Oh. Well if you say so I guess that must be it. They both say "5 hours ago" now. I meant no disrespect to Philoto - I must have just misinterpreted what I saw earlier, which is why the upvotes struck me as really odd. In the end, one hopes the best answer comes out on top, regardless of when it was posted. – FumbleFingers Jun 17 '11 at 19:03
@Fumble: If you wait about 25 minutes, you'll see @Philato's answer listed as "6 hours ago" :) – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Jun 17 '11 at 19:24
@BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft: It already has. And if I wait another day @horatio's will prolly have the most votes! :) – FumbleFingers Jun 17 '11 at 19:57

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