And we still shout “86 halibut” on expo at 9:37 on a Saturday while R&D is prototyping koji-glazed carrots and we’re rolling out a new KDS, and I’ve never found a definitive origin. Is it Chumley’s at 86 Bedford, a soda-fountain code, or a brigade-era shorthand — any solid sources to settle it?
Pretty sure it’s diner/soda-fountain slang: earliest print hits are 1930s, and the Chumley’s story reads retrofitted; see Merriam-Webster’s roundup: Wordplay: For the Love of Language | Merriam-Webster. Got anything earlier than 1936 while we’re 86’ing halibut at 9:37 on a Saturday?
But i’ve had luck pinning this down by searching old papers for “86 it” + “restaurant slang” and filtering 1920–40; Barry Popik’s entry (Knish) corrals early cites and tilts it toward short-order lingo rather than Chumley’s… When we rolled a new KDS, I baked in an “86” macro so expo isn’t shouting at 9:37 on a Saturday — want me to pull a couple paywalled hits?