Former FBI Director James Comey’s “8647” Instagram post threw conservatives into a defensive frenzy over whether he meant to call for President Donald Trump’s assassination.
The post, which he has since deleted and apologized for, could be interpreted to say someone should “86” the 47th president of the United States. Republicans have especially been up in arms over the post due to the two attempts to assassinate Trump during the 2024 campaign.
There was much debate online as to what this meant. Some argued it meant Comey wanted Trump dead, while others said he just wanted him out of the White House. Regardless of what he meant, the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service are investigating the remark.
Here is some background on the term.
Merriam-Webster defines it as “get rid of” or “throw out.”
“Eighty-six is slang meaning ‘to throw out,’ ‘to get rid of,’ or ‘to refuse service to,’” its website says of the term. “It comes from 1930s soda-counter slang meaning that an item was sold out. There is varying anecdotal evidence about why the term eighty-six was used, but the most common theory is that it is rhyming slang for nix.”
The dictionary says the term started as a noun in the 1930s, often referring to an item that has been sold out. “When a soda popper says the tuna fish salad is eighty-six, he means there isn’t any more,” Will Cuppy from the New York Herald Tribune wrote on Dec. 21, 1941.
“Carbon cats are musicians who purloin ideas. … And, if after hearing you, they say ‘Eighty-six’ that means you’re positively no good!” Justin Gilbert from the Bergen Evening Record wrote in April 1939.
The term then later evolved into a verb in the 1950s, often used to mean a refusal of service to a customer. “I have all I can handle eighty-sixing the drunks,” the website cites from the Independent on Sept. 12, 1960.
The specific origin of the term is unclear. St. Louis Magazine dining editor George Mahe joked that “if anyone asks you where the term 86 originated, tell them what I tell people: I don’t really know, but there are about 86 theories,” in a 2019 article explaining the term.
Mahe cited several different possible origins, such as the military’s F-86 fighter jet — when a fighter was shot down, it was 86’ed, he said; the soup kitchens of the Great Depression, which held 85 cups of soup in a standard pot, so the 86th person missed out; or a darker origin: The average grave is dug 86 inches deep.
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Urban Dictionary, which commonly defines slang, defines the 86’ed as: “To deny re-entry, sometimes legally or by other force; to remove or ban from approaching certain places.”
None of the definitions listed mentioned anything about assassinating or killing anyone.