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Glite Dictionary
what's cooking

what's cooking

1 8.8
A friendly question asking what is happening or being planned
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : qué pasa
  • Hey, what's cooking?
  • hey, what's cooking

Examples

  • Hey, good looking, what's cooking?

  • Hey, what's cooking with the new project at work?

  • If you want to know what's cooking, just ask the manager.

  • She walked in and asked, 'what's cooking?' when she saw everyone gathered.

  • I asked him, what's cooking for dinner tonight?

  • When we met for coffee, she asked, 'So, what's cooking these days?'

  • As I walked into the kitchen, I wondered, 'What's cooking?'

Surface Forms

what's cooking main

Morphology

what's + cooking

The literal constituents ('what's' = what is, 'cooking' = preparing food) give a plausible metaphorical extension — i.e. 'what is being prepared' — which can be generalized to 'what is happening or being planned.' Because this meaning relies on a metaphorical shift and can easily be interpreted literally by learners without prior exposure, it is only partially predictable.

Etymology

What's cooking may come from the simple image of food on a stove. When people smelled or saw food cooking, they asked what was being prepared, so today What's cooking is a casual way to ask 'what is happening' or 'what is planned'.