Diane Holt wrote:
>
> I always thought it came from a code-number for bussing a table -- but
> American Heritage seems to have another idea about it:
There are more than a few theories on this... see
http://www.restaurantreport.com/qa/86d.html and
http://www.word-detective.com/back-i2.html
Here's my favorite quote:
The theory you've heard about "86" is certainly entertaining, but is
unsubstantiated and probably not true. Fortunately, there are lots of
other theories. Unfortunately, there's not much evidence supporting
them, either. What we do know is that "86" first appeared as "kitchen
slang" meaning "out of that item" in the 1930's, and fairly quickly came
to mean "stop serving that customer" as well. Eventually, "86" spread to
general usage, where it came to mean simply "dismiss" or "quash" ("The
boss 86'ed my proposal for beer in the lunchroom").
- Sam Ruby
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