In America former FBI Director James Comey is being prosecuted for threatening the life of US President Donald Trump.
What is interesting to us wordies is the way he is said to have made this threat—namely by writing down the numbers ’86 47.’
The ‘47’ is clear enough since Trump is the 47th President of the United States.
But in what way is the number ‘86’ a threat?
According to the great American dictionary, the Merriam-Webster, the number ‘86’ started out in the hospitality industry to mean ‘to refuse to serve (a customer).’
Why? How on earth did a number ever take on such a meaning?
There are no fewer than four different theories.
One goes back to Prohibition and a bar called Chumley’s in New York—which had several entrances.
The story is that when a police raid was planned a corrupt policeman would tip off the bar and the call would be ‘86’—meaning leave through the 86 Bedford Street door, while the police would come in by the Pamela Court entrance.
Well, that’s one theory.
Another, reported by legendary Broadway columnist Walter Winchell in 1933, is that there were slang terms using numbers for hospitality staff—the code 13 meant that a boss was around, 81 was a glass of water and 86 meant ‘all out of it.’
But even if that’s true it doesn’t explain how those numbers came to have those meanings.
The third theory is that it comes from the code of military justice in which Article 86 meant absent without leave.
However, I suspect that the most likely source is the simplest one—that ‘86’ is rhyming slang for ‘nix’—which has been used in America since 1903 to mean ‘to cancel or reject.’
(Behind this is the older colloquial noun ‘nix’ meaning nothing or nought.)
So, if Comey’s numerals ’86 47’ meant ‘nix Trump’ was it an encouragement to assassinate Trump?
Looks like rather a long straw to draw but that seems to be the claim.
The latest edition of The Spectator Australia is in newsagents now -- with the cartoon about banning Enid Blyton on the front cover and my language column in the back.
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