Saturday, 12 February 2011

Quickly, from Edinburgh...




  1. Simon, to "86" something means to leave it off. I believe it originated in the restaurant business - if someone orders a cheeseburger without onions, the waiter would write/tell the cook to "86 the onions."

    So, have you picked up 39 books yet? :) Glad to hear you are having a good shopping trip.

  2. Dear Susan in TX, I had wondered whether it was rhyming slang for "nix"?

  3. eighty-six something?

  4. After I perused online sources, there appears to be no definitive answer to the origin on the term 86. Others here have posted some of the possibilities.

    I know it best from the 1989 novel Eighty-Sixed by David Feinberg. I just went to google books and the opening of the prologue is racier than I remembered.

  5. And of course I will still visit. It's all about content.

  6. I predict you will come back with 86 books. Hope you're having a lovely trip.


