eighty-six

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 6, 2010 is: eighty-six • \ay-tee-SIKS\ • verb, slang : to refuse to serve (a customer); also : to get rid of : throw out Examples: "NBC's Hannah Storm eighty-sixed her real last name, Storen, when her first employer, a heavy-metal-oriented radio station in Corpus Christi, asked her to host a show titled Storm by the Sea." (Sports Illustrated, September 25, 2000) Did you know? If you work in a restaurant or bar, you might eighty-six (or "eliminate") a menu item when you run out of it, or you might eighty-six (or "cut off") a customer who should no longer be served. "Eighty-six" is still used in this specific context, but it has also entered the general language. These days, you don’t have to be a worker in a restaurant or bar to eighty-six something -- you just have to be someone with something to get rid of or discard. There are many popular but unsubstantiated theories about the origin of "eighty-six." The explanation judged most probable by Merriam-Webster etymologists is that the word was created as a rhyming slang word for "nix," which means "to veto" or "to reject." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.