eighty-six or 86; short-order cookery language

Frank Abate FABATE at CINCI.RR.COM
Tue Jun 19 13:48:43 UTC 2007


"86" is used currently at the Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Blue Ash, Ohio
(near Cincinnati).  It is on the store's computer system software, used to
enter orders by servers and send them to the kitchen for preparation.
Servers and cooks there use it in speech as well.

        86 = 'do not prepare or serve with _______'

        SERVER USAGE: "86 (the) mayo on that Triple Prime Burger"

        SCREEN USAGE: "________ 86 MAYO"


Other info: The Ruby Tuesday chain has more than 900 stores.  HQ is
Tennessee.

Side note: "store" is the usual designation in the restaurant biz for any
specific location in a chain of restaurants.  Seemed a bit unusual to me at
first when I noticed the use (Sept 2006), but I now use it myself and now it
to be frequent and widespread among restaurant workers.


Frank Abate

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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