Etymology of "Eighty-Six"

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Fri, Nov 07, 2008 at 09:47:42AM -0500, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> On another list serv there is discussion about the derivation of "eighty-six."  I posted that the rhyming-slang-from-"nix" derivation was unproven.  Am I correct about this?
>

Yes.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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