86 (term)

When used as a verb, eighty-six, eighty-sixed, 86, 86ed, or 86'd is American English slang for getting rid of something, ejecting someone, or refusing service.

Meaning

According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, "86" is a slang term that is used in the American popular culture as a transitive verb to mean throw out or get rid of, particularly in the food service industry as a term to describe an item no longer available on the menu, or to refuse service to a customer.^[1] The Merriam Webster dictionary suggests the term may be associated with the word "nix" ("no" or a more general prohibition).^[1]

Etymology

Several possible origins of the term 86 have been suggested, all dated before the 1950s.

• United States Navy decommissioning: One possible origin is from the U.S. Navy's Allowance Type (AT) coding system used for logistics. The allowance type code is a single digit that identifies the reason that materiel is being carried in stock. Throughout the life-cycle of a warship, many pieces of equipment are upgraded or replaced, requiring onboard spare parts to be disposed of, and the code is AT-6 for parts designated for disposal.^[2] Following World War II, there were a great number of warships being decommissioned, sold, scrapped, or deactivated and placed in reserve (commonly referred to as "mothballed"). During this process, labor workers would bring up spare parts from the storerooms and the supply clerk would tell them the AT code. Anything to be disposed of was referred to as AT-6—which sounds like "86".

Looking north at Chumley's, 86 Bedford St, West Village.

• 86 Bedford Street: Author Jef Klein theorizes that the bar Chumley's at 86 Bedford Street in the West Village of Lower Manhattan was the source. Klein's 2006 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.^[3]
• Restaurant slang: Another notion of the term's origin claims that it came from a code supposedly used in some restaurants among restaurant workers in the 1930s,^[4] where 86 meant "we're all out of it." Walter Winchell published examples of similar restaurant slang in his newspaper column in 1933, which he presented as part of a "glossary of soda-fountain lingo."^[5]
• Documented 1944 use: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first verifiable use of 86 in the sense of "refuse service to" dates to a 1944 book about John Barrymore, a movie star of the 1920s famous for his acting and infamous for his drinking: "There was a bar in the Belasco building ... but Barrymore was known in that cubby as an 'eighty-six'. An 'eighty-six', in the patois of western dispensers, means: 'Don't serve him.'"^[6]

Popular uses of term

• 1947: In the song "Boogie Woogie Blue Plate" by Louis Jordan, one line is "86 on the cherry pies" as one of many examples of short-order restaurant lingo.
• 1957: The main character in Gore Vidal's play Visit to a Small Planet^[7] uses the command "86" numerous times to destroy things.
• In the television series Get Smart, agent Maxwell Smart was code-named Agent 86.
• 1973: Thomas Pynchon used the term "86" in Gravity's Rainbow: "They did finally 86 him out of Massachusetts Bay Colony."
• 1989: David B. Feinberg published the novel "Eighty-sixed" contrasting life in New York just before HIV to life in 1986 when AIDS had become a major health crisis in the city.
• Filmmaker Dave Markey made a documentary about the final tour of the infamous hardcore punk band Black Flag entitled Reality 86'd. The movie was filmed in 1986 during the band's final tour, but wasn't released until 1991.
• Dan Fante's 2009 novel 86'd is about a man who gets fired and battles his alcoholism.^[8]
• Cars's main antagonist Chick Hicks has this number which means he rammed other cars and got rid of them.

See also

• List of restaurant terminology

References

External links

Look up eighty-six in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• "eighty-six"="nix" Yaelf.com, the alt.usage.english FAQ
• Snopes.com: Etymology of the slang term "86"