86 or eighty-sixed
JMcpot
throwing someone out of a bar.
Daniel P. B. Smith
JMcpot <jmc...@aol.com> wrote:
>I am trying to find out the origination of this frequently used term for
>throwing someone out of a bar.
Part of an extensive system of numeric codes, used in short-order
restaurants. I believe it was in regular use in the twenties and thirties
and still occasionally heard as late as the fifties. I think some of
them were for commonly ordered dishes, others meant things like "a
patron is leaving without paying the bill." You can find out more in
slang dictionaries.
--
Daniel P. B. Smith
dpbs...@world.std.com
Robert M. Wilson
JMcpot wrote in message <19990218130306...@ng152.aol.com>...
>I am trying to find out the origination of this frequently used term for
>throwing someone out of a bar.
I've heard two different explanations:
It comes from a bartenders' code meaning we are all out of it.
It is rhyming slang for "nix" (meaning 'nothing').
I would favour the first as it appears to be N.A. and rhyming slang was not
common there
Frank Lynch
> I've always heard (can't get much more conclusive than that, can you?) that
> there once was a restaurant that had exactly 85 things on their menu.
> If someone happened to order something not on menu, the servers
> would tell them that "That is the 86th item." It's not quite likely, I know,
> but it's interesting nonetheless.
Alas, Lighter's 'Dictionary of American Slang' does not discuss the derivation.
Frank Lynch
--
The Samuel Johnson Sound Bite Page is at:
http://www.samueljohnson.com/
Daniel P. B. Smith
Daniel P. B. Smith <dpbs...@world.std.com> wrote:
>In article <19990218130306...@ng152.aol.com>,
>JMcpot <jmc...@aol.com> wrote:
>>throwing someone out of a bar.
>
>restaurants. I believe it was in regular use in the twenties and thirties
>and still occasionally heard as late as the fifties. I think some of
>them were for commonly ordered dishes, others meant things like "a
>patron is leaving without paying the bill." You can find out more in
>slang dictionaries.
...and now that I'm in reach of one (Wentworth and Flexner):
eighty-two = a glass of water
eighty-six has several meanings. They say "all uses because the term
rhymes with 'nix.'" 1. No, nix; nothing; there is none left; we don't
have the item ordered. Used by the cook to inform waiters that there is
no more of a specific dish. 2. A glass of water. 3. A person who is not
to be served, as at a lunch counter, because he is thought to be
undesirable or unable to pay; a person who is not to be served liquor, as
at a bar, because he is or will become drunk and/or disorderly. Their
usage example is from 1944.
Ninety-five: a customer at a lunch counter who walks out without paying.
Ninety-eight: The manger of a lunch counter or soda-fountain.
Ninety-nine: the chief fry cook or soda jerk.
There were also supposedly all sorts of nicknames or code words for
dishes, e.g. "Adam and Eve on a raft" for two fried eggs on toast. But it
was all before my time and I personally have never heard any of these
expression used--has anyone else?
MJConover7
I've always heard (can't get much more conclusive than that, can you?) that
there once was a restaurant that had exactly 85 things on their menu.
If someone happened to order something not on menu, the servers
would tell them that "That is the 86th item." It's not quite likely, I know,
but it's interesting nonetheless.
ObQ:
I am so amazingly cool you could keep a side of meat in me for a
month. I am so hip I have difficulty seeing over my pants.
-The chateracter Zaphod Beeblebrox, in Douglas Adams' _The
Restaraunt at the End of the Universe_ (Not quite related, but it was the
thing that returned from a search for "restaurant")
---Michael
formerly coherent
I heard the term 86 came from being killed in war:
Eight feet underground, six feet long.
In article <19990218223731...@ng39.aol.com>,
Richard I. Pelletier
The New Dictionary of American Slang (1986, Ed. Robert L. Chapman)
offers "a person who is not to be served more liquor ... may come from
the relatively weaker 86-proof whiskey as compared with 100-proof"
I can't say it seems at all convincing to me.
A wonderful newsgroup!
</delurk>
--
Richard I. Pelletier
Death before dishonor; nothing before coffee.
NB eddress: r i p 1 [at] h o m e [dot] c o m
Kurt A. Sanftleben
>
>I heard the term 86 came from being killed in war:
ARTICLE. 86. ABSENCE WITHOUT LEAVE (AWOL)
Any member of the armed forces who, without authority--
(1) fails to go to his appointed place of duty at the time prescribed;
(2) goes from that place; or
(3) absents himself or remains absent from his unit, organization, or
place of duty at which he is required to be at the time prescribed;
shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
- Uniformed Code of Military Justice, the code of military law
originally enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1951 and still current
today
-----------------
Last Words at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/6537/index.htm
Frank Lynch
> ARTICLE. 86. ABSENCE WITHOUT LEAVE (AWOL)
>
> Any member of the armed forces who, without authority--
>
> (1) fails to go to his appointed place of duty at the time prescribed;
>
> (2) goes from that place; or
>
> (3) absents himself or remains absent from his unit, organization, or
> place of duty at which he is required to be at the time prescribed;
> shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
>
> - Uniformed Code of Military Justice, the code of military law
> originally enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1951 and still current
> today
Nonmilitary references to "86" predate this regulation, showing up as
early as the 20's, if I recall from my glance at Lighter last night.
Daniel P. B. Smith
>
>I heard the term 86 came from being killed in war:
>
The following web location leads to a lunch counter glossary, which gives
another (unlikely) explanation: "Perhaps from the practice at
Chumley's Restaurant in New York City of throwing
rowdy customers out the back door, which is No. 86
Bedford Street. The term certainly predates its first
appearance in print circa 1967."
http://homecooking.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa081897.htm
The following terms are just a sampling of Lunch Counter
Lingo, excluding soda fountain lingo, from The Dictionary of
American Food and Drink (Hearst Books) by John F. Mariani.
Lunch Counter Lingo Glossary
Adam and Eve on a raft:
Two poached eggs on toast.
Adam's ale:
Plain water.
axle grease or skid grease:
Butter.
baby, moo juice, Sweet Alice
or cow juice:
Milk.
belch water:
Seltzer or soda water.
birdseed:
Cereal.
blue-plate special:
A dish of meat, potato, and vegetable served on a plate
(usually blue) sectioned in three parts.
Bossy in a bowl:
Beef stew, so called because "Bossy" was a common
name for a cow.
bowl of red:
A bowl of chili con carne, so called for its deep red
color.
bowwow:
A hot dog.
breath:
An onion.
bridge or bridge party:
Four of anything, so called from the card-game hand of
bridge.
bullets:
Also called "whistleberries" or "Saturday nights." Baked
beans, so called because of the supposed flatulence they
cause.
bun pup:
A hot dog.
burn one:
Put a hamburger on the grill.
burn the British:
A toasted English muffin.
cat s eyes or fish eyes:
Tapioca.
China:
Rice pudding.
chopper:
A table knife
city juice:
Water.
clean up the kitchen:
Hash or hamburger
Coney Island chicken or Coney
Island:
A hot dog, so called because hot dogs were popularly
associated with the Coney Island stands at which they
were sold
cowboy:
A western omelet or sandwich
cow feed:
A salad
creep:
Draft beer
crowd:
Three of anything (possibly from the old saying, "Two's
company, three's a crowd").
deadeye:
Poached egg
dog and maggot:
Cracker and cheese.
dog biscuit:
Cracker
dog's body:
A pudding of pea soup and flour or hardtack
dough well done with cow to
cover:
Buttered toast
draw one:
Coffee
eighty-six:
"Do not sell to that customer" or "The kitchen is out of
the item ordered." Perhaps from the practice at
Chumley's Restaurant in New York City of throwing
rowdy customers out the back door, which is No. 86
Bedford Street. The term certainly predates its first
appearance in print circa 1967.
Eve with a lid on:
Apple pie, referring to the biblical Eve's tempting apple
and to the crust that covers it.
fifty-five:
A glass of root beer.
first lady:
Spareribs, a pun on Eve's being made from Adam's
spare rib.
fly cake or roach cake:
A raisin cake or huckleberry pie.
Frenchman's delight:
Pea soup.
GAC:
Grilled American cheese sandwich. This was also called
"jack" (from the pronunciation of "GAC"); a "Jack
Benny" (after a radio comedian) was cheese with bacon.
gentleman will take a chance:
Hash.
go for a walk:
An order to be packed and taken out.
gravel train:
Sugar bowl.
graveyard stew:
Milk toast.
groundhog:
Hot dog.
hemorrhage:
Ketchup.
high and dry:
A plain sandwich without butter, mayonnaise, or lettuce.
houseboat:
A banana split, made with ice cream and sliced bananas.
in the alley:
Serve as a side dish.
Irish turkey:
Corned beef and cabbage.
java or joe:
Coffee.
Iooseners:
Prunes, so called because of their supposed laxative
effect.
Iumber:
A toothpick.
maiden's delight:
Cherries, so called because "cherry" is a slang term for
the maidenhead.
Mike and Ike or the twins:
Salt and pepper shakers.
Mud or Omurk:
Black coffee.
Murphy:
Potatoes, so called because of their association with the
Irish diet of potatoes, Murphy being a common Irish
name.
Noah's boy:
A slice of ham, because Ham was Noah's second son.
no cow:
Without milk.
on the hoof:
Meat done rare.
on wheels:
An order to be packed and taken out.
pair of drawers:
Two cups of coffee.
Pittsburgh:
Toast or something burning, so called because of the
smokestacks evident in Pittsburgh, a coal-producing and
steel-mill city. In meat cookery, this refers to a piece of
meat charred on the outside while still red within .
put out the lights and cry:
Liver and onions.
radio:
A tuna-fish-salad sandwich on toast punning on "tuna
down," which sounds like "turn it down," as one would
the radio knob.
sand:
Sugar.
sea dust:
Salt.
sinkers and suds:
Doughnuts and coffee.
Vermont:
Maple syrup, because maple syrup comes primarily from
Vermont.
warts:
Olives.
wreath:
Cabbage.
wreck 'em:
Scramble the eggs.
yum-yum:
Sugar.
zeppelins in a fog:
Sausages in mashed potatoes .
Leslie Paul Davies
: Chumley's Restaurant in New York City of throwing
: rowdy customers out the back door, which is No. 86
: Bedford Street.
Most certainly unlikely. I spent a fair part
of the 60s doing... doing... AH! "Field Work
and Important Research" at two loci: Chumley's
and McSorley's Old Ale House. [ The rest of
the time I was busy reporting my "Findings" to
assorted Deans and Profs who were determined
that school ought interfere with my edumacation. ]
The Bedford entry is unmarked, and I used it only
if I'd parked me CZ outside. We usually used the
back door, which opened to a small, lovely court-
yard. Mum was the word in order to keep peace with
the yard's apartment dwellers. The wooden gate on
Barrow was always opened gingerly. The rare rowdy
went out the front door... no mean feat because of
the awkward stairs. Chumley's walls were lined with
dust jackets, and in the days before I ever visited,
reviews and columns were typed there and copy-boyed
or phoned to editors. I'll bet if they had the same
juke box, I could find "Night in Tunisia" and "Song
for My Father" eyes-closed.
Alas, I 86-ed myself from McSorley's Old Ale House
on E. 7th one grim day in May, 1970. What a wonderful
place... the stove, the Limburger, Porter, Stout...
It all changed at the end of May...
"We were here before you were born."
"Good Ale, Raw Onions, no [I cannot...]
OQ:
Without question, the greatest invention in the history of
mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine
invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.
--Dave Barry
GL
--
Paul W2SYF/4 Ft Lauderdale
"Heisenberg may have slept here... "
Leslie Paul Davies
lpda...@bc.seflin.org