moldyoldy wrote:
eigh·ty-six
/ˌādēˈsiks/
verbINFORMAL•NORTH AMERICAN
verb: 86
1.
eject or bar (someone) from a restaurant, bar, etc.
"they were accused of cheating, and eighty-sixed from their favorite casino"
2.
reject, discard, or cancel.
"the passwords will be 86ed by next October"
But do you know how the term originated?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86_(term)
The term eighty-six was initially used in restaurants and bars according to most late twentieth-century American slang dictionaries.[2] It is often used in food and drink services to indicate that an item is no longer available or that a customer should be ejected.[2] Beyond this context, it is generally used with the meaning to 'get rid of' someone or something.[2]
According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, it means to "refuse to serve (a customer)", to "get rid of" or "throw out" someone or something.[3]
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it may be used as a noun or verb.[4] As a noun, "In restaurants and bars, an expression indicating that the supply of an item is exhausted, or that a customer is not to be served; also, a customer to be refused service. Also transferred."[4] As a transitive verb derived from the noun, it means "to eject or debar (a person) from premises; to reject or abandon".[4] The OED gives examples of usage from 1933 to 1981.[4] For example, from The Candidate, in which the media adviser said to Robert Redford, "OK, now, for starters, we got to cut your hair and eighty-six the sideburns".[4]
According to Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, the meaning expanded during the 1970s to also mean “to kill, to murder; to execute judicially”.[1][5] This usage was derived from the slang term used in restaurants.[6] Other slang dictionaries confirm this definition.[7][8][6]
There are many theories about the origin of the term but none are certain. It seems to have originated in the 1920s or 1930s.[citation needed] Possible origins include:
Rhyming slang for nix.[4]
Part of the jargon used by soda jerks. Walter Winchell wrote about this in 1933, in his syndicated On Broadway column.[9] In this, the code 13 meant that a boss was around, 81 was a glass of water and 86 meant "all out of it".[10] Professor Harold Bentley of Columbia University studied soda jerk jargon and reported other numeric codes such as 95 for a customer leaving without paying.[11]
Author Jef Klein theorized that the bar Chumley's at 86 Bedford Street in the West Village of Lower Manhattan was the source. His book The History and Stories of the Best Bars of New York claims that the police would call Chumley's bar during prohibition before making a raid and tell the bartender to "86" his customers, meaning that they should exit out the 86 Bedford Street door, while the police would come to the Pamela Court entrance.[12]
In electrical engineering, an ANSI device number "86" is used to automatically deenergize and lock out a piece of equipment. This was used as early as 1928 when it was published in ANSI Standard No. 26.