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The customer is always right (lemmy.world)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 143 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Never heard of it so I had to look

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/eighty-six-meaning-origin

Eighty-six is slang meaning "to throw out," "to get rid of," or "to refuse service to." It comes from 1930s soda-counter slang meaning that an item was sold out. There is varying anecdotal evidence about why the term eighty-six was used, but the most common theory is that it is rhyming slang for nix.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Yeah 86 doesn't really mean to get rid of something. At least in my time in the restaurant industry I never heard it used that way. It just means that we were out of something.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 5 days ago (1 children)

That was my experience as well. Though we would also refer to a banned customer as "86'd."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

Same meaning in my experience. The patron is kicked out. 86'd is the past tense. 'they have been 86’d'

You no longer have any of that product, ingredient, or in this case customer.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 days ago (2 children)

"86 the chef special" == get rid of it [from the menu]

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

No, "86 the chef special" means 'kitchen is out of chef special.

Yes, your task is to remove it from the menu.

But you aren't 86ing it.

You're marking it as 86'd because the quantity is below minimum threshold (usually zero).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

str 86;

str itmTo86;

86='get rid of';

info(strFmt('%1 %2',86,itmTo86));

(This won't actually work, since you can't assign ints as variables, but whatever. It was fun)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

In a workshop environment I've heard "86 it" to mean "get rid of it." synonymous with "shitcan it."

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

And that’s the joke behind Agent 86’s number on Get Smart. He’s a bad agent, and someone should have gotten rid of him.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

There's a timely reference. Get Smart: In Color.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I heard/read years ago "86ing" came from the old west referring to killing somebody. You'd take them "80 miles out" and bury them "6 feet deep."

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

This right here is my truth. If 80 miles out & 6 feet deep is wrong, than I don't wanna be right. Always loved this expression and origin story.