Bentley, a Columbia University professor, confirmed the soda-counter usage of eighty-six in an article in the journal American Speech, “ Linguistic Concoctions of the Soda Jerker.” Bentley sent his students out to drug-store soda counters, hash houses, and other eateries around New York, collecting about 500 items in all, including some rather elaborate expressions: Noah’s boy with Murphy carrying a wreath was the code for “ham and potato and cabbage.” Eighty-six could be found alongside many other code numbers in the eighties and nineties: Winchell went on to give more examples of the numerical code used by servers at soda fountains, including eighty-one meaning “a glass of water,” and thirteen meaning “one of the big bosses is drifting around.” In the column that appeared on (as published in the Akron Beacon Journal), Winchell wrote:Ī Hollywood soda-jerker forwards this glossary of soda-fountain lingo out there … “Shoot one” and “Draw one” is one coke and one coffee … “Shoot one in the red!” means a cherry coke … An “echo” is a repeat order … “Eighty-six” means all out of it. The first known appearance in print, discovered by word sleuth Barry Popik, is in “On Broadway,” the widely syndicated column by New York’s premier gossip-monger Walter Winchell. Where did this unusual use of the number come from in the first place? As I discussed in an episode of the podcast Lexicon Valley, there are numerous theories about the origins of the eighty-six slang, but most of the theories lack any evidence to back them up. (It’s common lingo among those who tend bar, a profession that entails inconspicuously showing the door to patrons who have had too much to drink.) It has also been turned into a verb, meaning “eject” or “get rid of”: The note seems to suggest that the restaurant wanted to eighty-six Sanders. In the lingo of restaurants and bars, eighty-six is an old bit of coded slang that can mean that an item on the menu isn’t available-or, as is evidently the case here, that a customer should be removed from the premises. jr3bfiY3XY - Brennan Gilmore June 23, 2018 Apparently the owner didn’t want to serve her and her party out of moral conviction. got kicked out of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Va tonight.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |