Not wanting to get disbarred?
While some may argue 86 is a term about getting rid of something — I first learned of it while working in restaurant industry for years. I’ve never ever ran across its usage outside of hospitality industry. To be sure, I looked it up and the origin is attributed to hospitality.
It means you are out of something. So if you order a piece of fish for dinner, and the waitstaff return and say to you — sorry, but we are out of that. The waitstaff learned of that by a chef yelling “86 salmon” or it being written on a chalkboard.
You don’t own a hotel chain, or golf courses with kitchens, or a friggen resort in the armpit of USA without knowing exactly what this means.
He is being outright targeted.
I’ve never ever ran
*run
Sorry about being pedantic about this, it’s like a splinter in my mind. It’s never “have ran”.
https://grammarden.blog/has-run-or-has-ran-which-one-is-correct-with-useful-examples/
I’ve heard the term since at least the early 1970s when I was bar staff. The original usage, in my experience, was as a directive to cut off unruly customers from further drinks or to remove them. That would imply the meaning started as “stop” or “get rid of.” That’s also consistent with your salmon example in that the kitchen is telling the waitstaff to eliminate the salmon from subsequent orders.
I personally think that the most plausible theory that “86” started as a euphemism for “nix” (to say no to, to eliminate). Most of the other explanations are too contrived or too local for its widespread usage. Though sometimes, the contrived explanation can be true, as in the case of “420” which traces back to an expression used by stoners in one northern California high school.
“without explanation”
The explanation:
Trump: “Arrest and charge him who cares about evidence, just do it.”
Prosecutor: “… that’s not how this works, I can’t just do that.”
Trump: “Fuck off then I’ll get someone who will!”
deleted by creator
Yeah, there’s no case. So despite the lack of a public explanation there’s not much of a mystery to this news.
Exactly. The withdrawal is the explanation. It speaks volumes.
