Why would 86 mean none?
86 is a slang term that means to get rid of something. See the Green Day song ‘86’ as an example. The origin is from a really long time ago, when it meant a menu item at restaurants was no longer available.
It’s rhyming slang with ‘nix’ which is Latin, and means to nullify or cancel. Because there layers of meaning hidden in english, Latin, and arabic numbers is not possible to be confusing.
And not to be confused with ‘deep 6’ which means to destroy, kill orr bury something 6 feet deep.
Instructing kitchen to deep 6 the cherries, the line cooks gonna need a gun and a shovel.
Why would 86 mean none?
I like the theory that it’s like Cockney rhyming slang—eight-six, nix.
Like what Don Cheadle’s character do in Ocean’s Eleven.
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.
That was my experience as well. Though we would also refer to a banned customer as “86’d.”
In a workshop environment I’ve heard “86 it” to mean “get rid of it.” synonymous with “shitcan it.”
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.
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.”
Yeah, that’s on the customer. If you write that you want a bunch of fuckin cherries then you’re getting a bunch of fuckin cherries. Now go eat the pile of cherries you ordered.
Honestly I’d work under the assumption that restaurant employees knew what “86” meant. I’d still prob just write “no cherries” lol but the assumption isn’t that crazy. It’s common restaurant lingo.
Edit: people that never worked in a restaurant downvoting me “I NEVER HEARD OF NO 86, DOWNVOTED FOR SHARING AN ANECDOTE” lol this site is cancer. There’s a reason lemmy will never take off, and it’s the user base
I’m 46 and it’s the first time I hear it. I would probably ask a manager what to do as 86 cherries is a lot but my AuDHD is ok with counting exactly 86 cherries lol
I’m guessing you’ve never worked in a restaurant? Like I said, in my experience it’s common in the industry
In my 30s, and while I’ve heard “let’s 86 the _____” numerous times, I honestly wouldn’t have connected that to “86 cherries” on an order.
I’ve worked in food, fast and fancy, and nobody would say “86 cherries” instead of “no cherries”. Clarity is conducive to a smoothly flowing kitchen.
It is absolutely common restaurant lingo. I can use it with anyone I know from restaurants seamlessly.
That said, fast food work is a different subculture.
But wouldn’t the common restaurant lingo be “86 THE cherries?”
86 is a verb. To 86 something is to exclude it. But 86 alone is a number like any other. Just as 50 alone isn’t pronounced “five-oh” and doesn’t mean the Hawaii State Police. If I said “I’m 50,” you’d assume it’s my age, not my profession.
If I said, “That’s the shit!” I’d mean the opposite of “That’s shit!”
Yeah, I’ve never once heard it when I worked fast food, only full service
As someone who’s worked a few fast food jobs, no, I’d have no fucking clue what is meant by that. Piss and cry in your edit all you want.
Here’s where the ‘86’ came from.
Back in the day, there was a speakeasy with two doors. The entry door was through a small courtyard and the exit door was onto the street. If you knocked on the street door, which had the address on it, you couldn’t get in. If you got obnoxious, you’d be thrown out the street door. That door had an ‘86’ on it.
It’s common resturant lingo but fast food is completely different from resturant work. Also “86” literally has the same number of characters as “no”. They could have put down “no cherries” with the exact same ease. They decided to play a stupid game so they won a stupid prize, a stupid amount of cherries.
You’re downvoted because dude. Just no…
“86 cherries” means eighty six cherries, “no cherries” means no cherries… If people learnt to communicate clearly this world would be a better place
Edit: also this has nothing to do with Lemmy being “cancer”? Your argument is poor
It’s usually used in the context of a restaurant kitchen. Like if they run out of olives they would yell eighty-six olives. So don’t sell anything with olives without warning and don’t go looking for them.
Downvotes mean nothing here. You dont have to get upset. Writing 86 cherries when you mean no cherries on a piece of paper with no context is a dumbass thing to do. Write what you mean and be concise. Nobody writes down the number 86 when they mean no. The separation from the vocal component is enough to be confusing.
nobody writes down the number
um the guy in this post CLEARLY did so. i just proved you wrong pal
downvotes here mean exactly as much as they mean anywhere else
AND FOR THE 9TH TIME, I wouldn’t write “86” when I meant “no”, but expecting restaurant workers to know restaurant lingo isn’t some massive stretch. He’s not speaking Latin. the bigger dumbass is 100% the person who actually put 86 cherries into a milkshake.
Was this customer a 1930’s gangster?
Jokes on you, I just got a week supply of cherries.