Eighty-Six

Bartender's slang for the right to refuse - and oust - someone. Soda jerks from the '20s coined this term as the code for "off the menu," meaning that an item was sold out.

Fountain workers, according to The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, had a long lexicon of terms, including "ninety-nine," for the head soda jerk; "ninety-eight," for the assistant; "psst ninety-eight," meaning the assistant manager is snooping; "thirty-three," for cherry Coke; "fifty-five," for root beer; and "eighty-seven and a half," for a good-looking girl out front. (In the bar, the code for a comely patron is "check the ice" at the end of the bar, or wherever that person might be.)