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The customer is always right (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 152 points 3 weeks 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] 66 points 3 weeks 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] 37 points 3 weeks 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 3 weeks 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] 25 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks 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 3 weeks 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] 11 points 3 weeks 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 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks 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 3 weeks ago

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks 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 2 weeks 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.