Eighty six

Posted by Halley on April 14, 2004

i was going to let the poor origin of "bad har day" slide as being attributable to buffy the vampire slayer, (sorry term is old as dirt on this side of the ocean) but THEN I came across the meaning and origin of 86. first, it means that you have run out of something, commonly used in the restaurant industry, eg. "86 baked potatos" when the kitchen has run out. though "cut off" seems to be a likely version as well. HOWEVER, the history going back to chumly's is correct in identifying them with the first to coin the phrase, BUT it's history lies in prohibition era america, as it had two separate entrances leading to different streets, when the cops would come, the bartender would shout "86" and the customers would run out the opposite door.

• Eight theories on 86 ESC 14/April/04