See also: 86 (number)

Eighty-six or 86 is American English slang originating in the hospitality industry, especially a food or drinks establishment, meaning that an item is no longer available, or that a person or people is not welcome on the premises. Its etymology is unknown, but it seems to have been coined in the 1920s or 1930s.

Etymology

The address of Chumley's—86 Bedford Street, West Village—is one of several origin stories of the term

There are many theories about its origin. An article in St Louis Magazine enumerates 18, and suggests that there are "about 86 theories".[1] Possible origins include:

  • Rhyming slang for nix.[2] The website Snopes posits that the most likely derivation is from the slang "nix," which "carries a clear meaning of 'say no to, turn down, forbid,' which is the primary meaning ascribed to 86".[3]
  • Part of the jargon used by soda jerks. Walter Winchell wrote about this in 1933, in his syndicated On Broadway column.[4] In this, the code 13 meant that a boss was around, 81 was a glass of water and 86 meant "all out of it".[5] In 1936, Professor Harold Bentley of Columbia University studied soda jerk jargon and reported other numeric codes such as 95 for a customer leaving without paying.[6]
  • The author Jef Klein theorized that the bar Chumley's at 86 Bedford Street in the West Village in Lower Manhattan was the source. Chumley's had multiple entrances on different streets, and Klein's book The History and Stories of the Best Bars of New York claims that, during Prohibition, the police would call the bar before making a raid and tell the bartender to "86" his customers. This meant that they should exit out the 86 Bedford Street door, while the police would come to the Pamela Court entrance.[7]
  • Article 86 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice defines the offense of Absence without leave.[8][1]

Usage

Eighty-six is used in restaurants and bars, according to most American slang dictionaries.[9] It is often used in food and drink services to indicate that an item is no longer available or that a customer should be ejected.[9] Beyond this context, it is generally means to get rid of someone or something.[9]

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term as to "refuse to serve (a customer)", or to "get rid of" or "throw out" someone or something.[10] The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) says it may be used as a noun or verb.[2] As a noun, "In restaurants and bars, an expression indicating that the supply of an item is exhausted, or that a customer is not to be served; also, a customer to be refused service. Also transferred."[2] As a transitive verb derived from the noun, it means "to eject or debar (a person) from premises; to reject or abandon".[2] The OED gives examples of usage from 1933 to 1981;[2] for example, in the 1972 film The Candidate, a media adviser says to Robert Redford's character, "OK, now, for starters, we got to cut your hair and eighty-six the sideburns".[2]

According to Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, "to 86" can alternatively mean "to kill, to murder; to execute judicially".[11][12] Other slang dictionaries also contain this definition.[13][14]

The website Snopes posits that the most likely derivation of the term is from the slang "nix," which "carries a clear meaning of 'say no to, turn down, forbid,' which is the primary meaning ascribed to 86".[15]

The term 86 is prominent in the light novel series 86 and its subsequent anime adaptation. In the world of the series, the main setting of the Republic of San Magnolia is divided into 86 districts, with the 86th housing all of the country's minority populations that are collectively given the pejorative "86", meaning that they were discarded by society.

Automotive

  • In 1983, Toyota released the Sprinter Trueno and Corolla Levin using the chassis code AE86, sometimes known as just 86. The car gained worldwide popularity for drifting, and in the anime and manga, Initial D. In 2012, Toyota released the 86 sports car, named after the original AE86 models.

Music

  • The 1947 song "Boogie Woogie Blue Plate", by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five,[16] uses soda-jerk lingo, among which is "86 on the cherry pie".
  • The narrator of the 1975 song "Eggs and Sausage" by Tom Waits says, "I've been 86ed from your scheme" .
  • The 1995 song "86" by Green Day is about them being rejected from their punk rock community when they started achieving commercial success.[17][18]
  • The song "The Remedy" by Puscifer on their 2015 album "Money Shot" contains the lyrics "Trolls receive 86's".
  • The song "Cliches" by Jimmy Buffett, includes the line: "She's eighty-sixed from the chartroom..." suggesting that the woman in the song-was no longer doing some type of corporate work, had been fired, or that she put that corporate life behind her.

Stage and screen

  • Agent 86 in the 1960s TV show Get Smart gets his code number from the term.[9][19]
  • The 2018 comedy crime film 86'd by Alan Palomo depicts five stories taking place at a 24-hour deli with a theme song composed under his Neon Indian moniker.[20]

Literature

  • The 1989 novel Eighty-sixed by David B. Feinberg refers to "the gay community wiped out by AIDS".[21] It won Feinberg the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Fiction and the American Library Association Gay/Lesbian Award for Fiction.[22]
  • The 2009 novel 86'd by Dan Fante is loosely based on his own struggles with alcoholism and substance abuse.[23]

United States politics

In 1996, The Nation dismissed the administration of Bill Clinton firing travel office employees by writing "assume that Hillary [Clinton] personally eighty-sixed seven travel office employees ... AT&T; fired 44,000 and nobody said a word."[24]

8664 was a freeway removal advocacy group in Louisville, Kentucky, who in the early 2000s advocated for the removal of Interstate 64 along Louisville's riverfront.[25]

A 2017 TMZ article described then President Donald Trump as having "86'd Black History Month."[26] In 2018, a restaurant owner asked then White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave, and later described the request as "I'd 86'd Sanders."[27]

In October of 2020, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer appeared from her home on the television show Meet the Press, displaying a small pin in the background featuring the numbers "86 45".[28] Many on the right and in the administration of the 45th president, Donald Trump, claimed it was a reference to assassination, though there is no evidence the incident was investigated by the Justice Department.[29]

In 2022, alt-right conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec tweeted "8646", and also used it as a code for merchandise calling for then-president Joe Biden's impeachment.[30] The sale of T shirts, hats and stickers with "86 46" was widespread during the Biden presidency.[31]

In a February 2024 tweet, Matt Gaetz, then member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 1st congressional district, wrote that House speaker Kevin McCarthy, Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, and Senator Mitch McConnell had been "86'd" from their leadership positions.[32]

James Comey

In May 2025, former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey posted a photo on Instagram that prominently displayed the numbers "86 47" with some arranged seashells on a sandy beach.[33] Some Republicans said that Comey's image was a threat directed at the life of the 47th president, Donald Trump.[33][34] Trump told Fox News' Bret Baier that Comey was "calling for the assassination of the president."[35] The Trump administration said the Secret Service was investigating Comey's "86 47" social media post.[36] Many of the Republicans, including Matt Gaetz and Jack Posobiec, who said they were enraged by Comey's use of "86" in reference to Trump, had previously directed the term at their own political opponents.[30]

Comey then deleted the post. He wrote on Instagram that he viewed it as a political message and that he "didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence."[37] He was interviewed by the Secret Service and said he did not intend any harm to the president.[38]

In April 2026, the Justice Department brought the case to a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina, which indicted Comey on charges that he made a threat against the president and transmitted a threat across state lines.[39] Comey said he would fight the charges. He said in a video statement, "I'm still innocent, I'm still not afraid and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let's go."[40]

See also

  • 23 skidoo
  • Diner lingo

References

  1. ^ a b https://www.stlmag.com/dining/Ask-George-Where-Does-the-Term-86d-Come-From/
  2. ^ a b c d e f "eighty-six, n.", Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, retrieved October 21, 2020 (subscription required)
  3. ^ Mikkelson, Barbara (March 9, 2009). "Etymology of '86'". Snopes.
  4. ^ Walter Winchell (May 24, 1933), "On Broadway", Akron Beacon Journal
  5. ^ Ben Zimmer (June 23, 2018), "A Restaurant 'Eighty-Sixed' Sarah Huckabee Sanders. What Does That Mean?", The Atlantic, archived from the original on October 20, 2020, retrieved October 19, 2020
  6. ^ Bentley, Harold W. (February 1936), "Linguistic Concoctions of the Soda Jerker", American Speech, 11 (1), Duke University Press: 37–45, doi:10.2307/452683, JSTOR 452683, archived from the original on October 22, 2020, retrieved October 19, 2020
  7. ^ Klein, Jef (2006). The History and Stories of the Best Bars of New York. Turner Publishing Company.
  8. ^ https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/886
  9. ^ a b c d Dundes, Alan (2001). "An Uplifting Origin of 86". American Speech. 76 (4): 437–440. doi:10.1215/00031283-76-4-437. S2CID 143761197.
  10. ^ "Definition of 86 by Merriam-Webster". Merriam-Webster. October 2020. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
  11. ^ Green, Jonathon (2005). Cassell's Dictionary of Slang. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-304-36636-1. 2 [1970s+] (US) to kill, to murder; to execute judicially.
  12. ^ "What Does the Term '86' Mean and Where Did It Come From?". Snopes. March 10, 2009. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  13. ^ Lighter, Jonathan E.; House (Firm), Random (1994). Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang: H-O. Random House. ISBN 978-0-679-43464-1. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  14. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry (June 26, 2015). The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-37251-6. Eighty-six to kill US, 1991
  15. ^ Mikkelson, Barbara (March 9, 2009). "Etymology of '86'". Snopes.
  16. ^ Knopper, Steve (1999). MusicHound Swing!: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-1-57859-091-9.
  17. ^ "Green Day: The Inside Story of Insomniac". Kerrang!. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  18. ^ Case, Wesley (May 3, 2013). "A brief guide to Green Day". The Baltimore Sun. Tribune Publishing. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  19. ^ Douglas Martin (September 27, 2005), "Don Adams, Television's Maxwell Smart, Dies at 82", The New York Times, archived from the original on September 12, 2020, retrieved October 19, 2020
  20. ^ Arcland, Rob (December 21, 2018). "Neon Indian Releases Theme Song for His New Film 86'd". Spin. Archived from the original on October 19, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  21. ^ Texier, Catherien (February 26, 1989). "When sex was all that mattered". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  22. ^ Feinberg, David B. (November 1, 1995). Queer and Loathing: Rants and Raves of a Raging AIDS Clone. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-16171-5.
  23. ^ "Dan Fante, Confronting His Demons on the Page". NPR. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  24. ^ Silverstein, Ken (October 1996). "No Problem: Liberal magazines have all but ignored eithical controversies engulfing the Clintons". American Journalism Review. Archived from the original on July 19, 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
  25. ^ Green, Marcus (October 31, 2007). "Council to hold hearings on 8664 idea". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved November 1, 2007.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  26. ^ "Verify: Did Donald Trump change the name of Black History Month?". wnep.com. February 8, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
  27. ^ "I own the restaurant that asked Sarah Sanders to leave. Resistance is not futile". oregonlive. May 14, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
  28. ^ "Republicans criticized Whitmer for use of "86." What does it actually mean?". Michigan Public. October 23, 2020. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
  29. ^ Blake, Aaron (May 16, 2025). "Analysis | James Comey, and a sudden shift in what '86' supposedly means". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
  30. ^ a b Baragona, Justin (May 16, 2025). "Matt Gaetz insists his use of '86' is 'distinct' from Comey's 'threat' as MAGA accused of hypocrisy over term". The Independent.
  31. ^ "Conservatives Called Out for Using '86 46' in Protest of Biden After Backlash Over Comey's '86 47' Post: 'Stop Being Hypocritical'". Latin Times. May 16, 2025. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  32. ^ @mattgaetz (February 28, 2024). "We've now 86'd: McCarthy McDaniel McConnell" (Tweet) – via X (formerly Twitter).
  33. ^ a b Lybrand, Holmes (May 15, 2025). "FBI Director Comey deletes 8647 post". CNN. Retrieved May 15, 2025.
  34. ^ Egwuonwu, Nnamdi (May 16, 2025). "Former FBI Director James Comey under investigation for post seen as a potential threat to Trump's life". NBC News. Retrieved May 16, 2025.
  35. ^ Koplowitz, Howard (May 16, 2025). "Trump says 'dirty cop' former FBI director 'meant assassination' with '86 47' seashells picture". al. Retrieved May 16, 2025.
  36. ^ AP News Politics, Trump administration officials say Secret Service is investigating Comey's '86 47' social media post, https://apnews.com/article/comey-trump-threat-shells-deleted-post-39b37b1d36c0463d3dad41a3d1339d4e, May 2025
  37. ^ Lybrand, Holmes (May 16, 2025). "Former FBI Director James Comey takes down Instagram post after conservative uproar | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved April 28, 2026.
  38. ^ Barrett, Devlin; Pager, Tyler (April 28, 2026). "Trump Administration Secures New Indictment Against James Comey". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 28, 2026.
  39. ^ Barrett, Devlin; Pager, Tyler (April 28, 2026). "DOJ Secures New James Comey Indictment Over Alleged Threat Against Trump". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  40. ^ Barrett, Devlin; Pager, Tyler (April 28, 2026). "DOJ Secures New James Comey Indictment Over Alleged Threat Against Trump". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
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