Even if he had written “86 the cherries” they probably never heard that term. I’m about to be 40 and I only know it from Loony Tunes and other cartoons stereotyping a 1920’s mobster.
What 86 has todo with “no”?
I’ve heard “86” as slang for eliminate/remove but I don’t know where it comes from, and I would never use it if I thought it could be confused with a quantity.
It sounds like something a stereotypical Chicago mobster might say, so I’d probably not use that slang anyway.
Definitely should have written “no cherries,” but it is a common restaurant industry term in the US.
Interestingly enough, you can also 86 a person. This means they’re not allowed to come back to the bar/restaurant/etc…
You can also 68 something if it becomes available again, like a reverse 86. For instance: the kitchen runs out of Brussels sprouts and 86’s them, but someone completes an emergency produce run to the local market and preps enough for the rest of the night, so now they’re 68.
Interestingly enough, you can also 86 a person. This means they’re not allowed to come back to the bar/restaurant/etc…
Sounds like a murder/assassination euphemism.
Just to throw it out there, 86 is also used in the film industry (at least in LA) meaning to cancel or get rid of something. It’s very widely used across the industry. I don’t know of any other slang that is shared between restaurants and film though.
Just an aside. I worked well over 20 years in food service as a second job. I don’t think “86” is a widespread term in food service, there are some of us that would know what you meant, but not many. If I had to guess, I would guess its origins were with the Trucking industry, specifically CB/shortwave radio operators since they abbreviated a TON of phrases with numbers.
I don’t really care for what, if you are requesting something from someone you don’t know in a way that’s intentionally stupid or roundabout, you need to be prepared to get exactly what you asked for.
Fast food doubly so, they give no shits. Ask for a burger but hold the burger? Expect an empty wrapper.
Had a friend who worked in a pizza store have someone order at pizza with chilli as an ingredient, “how hot do you want it?”, customer said “11/10”. They were very generous with the chilli flakes. Customer then called back to complain it was too hot!
I want to go to that pizza shop.
My whole life I’ve asked for things to be as hot as possible only to always be disappointed.
Then on a whim I entered my states chilli eating competition and won.
Then came 5th in all of Australia.
So I don’t think it’s the restaurants fault that I don’t find my food hot enough haha