Slang terms come from a wide variety of sources; the military, the newsroom, and the arts have all proved to be exceptionally fertile grounds for the creation of new words. One of the less-likely sources is soda-jerks (“a person who dispenses carbonated drinks and ice cream at a soda fountain”), but even they are responsible for some contributions. Perhaps chief among these is eighty-six.
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.
At the Lunch Counter
First appearing in the early 1930s as a noun, eighty-six (which is also written as 86) referred to an item at a soda fountain, or lunch counter, that had been sold out. It did not take long for the word to broaden its use beyond the realm of the soda counter.
Originalism and Uncovering Meaning [No. 86]
Where did the word 86 come from?
The first idea from the 1930s restaurant industry as a rhyming slang term for the word nix. This is confirmed in a 1933 newspaper column on the glossary of soda-fountain lingo by Walter Winchell. The term 86 might also stem from Chumley’s, a prohibition bar at 86 Bedford Street in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
What does 86 mean in restaurant etymology?
We’ve all heard someone use the term 86 in reference to doing away with something. There are a few schools of thought behind where the saying came from. Some have more legs than others—such as those of the restaurant industry—but to this day, there is still no official etymology. Here are a few possibilities.
What does 86 86 mean?
In the Japanese novel 86 -Eighty Six- by Asato Asato, the Eighty-Six are people whose rights were taken away and relegated into internment camps in the unofficial 86th District, treated as sub-human, and forced to fight in the war. The ANSI device numbers standard uses 86 for lock-out and master trip relays.
What does 86 mean in a bar?
To 86 someone is to bar them off your property. The term is mostly used in bars throughout the U.S. There has been lots of speculation as to where the term originated but the most plausible is Article 86 of the New York liquor code which gives the reasons a person may be removed from a bar.