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The old slang term '86' probably started as restaurant-worker jargon. Suddenly it's in the news
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FILE - Former FBI director James Comey gestures while speaking at Harvard University's Institute of Politics' JFK Jr. Forum in Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 24, 2020. - photo by AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File
NEW YORK (AP) — The slang term at the center of a political brouhaha swirling around former FBI Director James Comey is an old one, likely originating as food-service-industry jargon before extending to other contexts. Some of that spread has given rise to accusations from Republicans that it was meant as a threat to President Donald Trump. In a since-deleted Instagram post, Comey wrote “cool shell formation on my beach walk” to accompany a photo of shells displayed in the shapes of “86 47.” He said in a follow-up post that he took it only as a political message since Trump is the 47th president, and to “86” something can be to get rid of it, like a rowdy patron at a bar or something that is no longer wanted.