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| Dear Yahoo!: |
| How did the term "eighty-six" come to refer to cutting an item? |
Diane
Newport News, Virginia |
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| Dear Diane: |
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There are well over 86 possible origins for the phrase "eighty-six." The term, used to describe anything that's been cut or cancelled, has been traced to American restaurants and bars in the late 1920s and early '30s. Michael Quinion's World Wide Words offers half a dozen intriguing possibilities: - 86 Bedford Street was the street address for Chumley's, a rowdy New York speakeasy that often forcibly ejected, or "eighty-sixed," drunk and disorderly patrons.
- While most bars served 100-proof alcohol, troublesome clients were often served the "watered down" 86-proof booze.
- A popular menu item was number 86, and so was often out.
- A very popular New York restaurant only had 85 tables.
- An early New York
streetcar line ran from 14th street to -- you guessed it -- 86th Street. Conductors would call out "Eighty six! End of the line!"
- In the British merchant marines, crews were held to 85, so the 86th man was left behind.
Quinion himself seems partial to the explanation offered up by the Oxford English Dictionary -- "eighty-six" is rhyming slang for "nix." Of course, these are merely a few of the numerous possibilities. We'll just file this one away right next to "the whole nine yards," another hotly debated topic in the field of etymology.
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