FW: eighty-six or 86; short-order cookery language

[Mark Mandel]

ISTM that "short and simple to speak" implies "easily misheard or not heard
at all in a noisy environment", which describes most fast-food joints and
diners and probably all commercial kitchens. And by all I've heard, this
particular piece of slang is a lot older than computerized order entry
systems. Compare the "phonetic alphabets" (e.g., alpha bravo charlie
delta...) used for spelling or otherwise specifying letters of the alphabet
in noisy environments or on acoustically degraded channels such as radio.

m a m

On 6/19/07, Frank Abate <FABATE at cinci.rr.com> wrote:
>
> Below is from my son, Greg, who has several years of recent experience in
> restaurant work.
>
>   _____
>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 10:12 AM
> To: Frank Abate
> Subject: Re: eighty-six or 86; short-order cookery language
>
>
> [...]
> Everywhere I've worked you would simply type "NO" to exclude
> something in an individual order ("NO TOMATO").  This is also shorter and
> simpler to speak than 86, and short and simple (read: fast) is the name of
> the game in the food industry.
>
>
> G
>
>
>
>
> On 6/19/07, Frank Abate <FABATE at cinci.rr.com> wrote:
>
> "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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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