who knows why they say "86" in resturaunts when their out of something?

Question

i know its a stupid queston but just wondering where it came from
does anyone know??

Answer 1

"The term derives via a roundabout route from a number code allegedly in wide use in 1920s diners and soda fountains. 86 supposedly meant, "We're all out of the item ordered," said by the cook or some other honcho to a soda jerk or similar minion.

Why 86 and not, say, the square root of 2? The most plausible explanation I've heard is that 86 is rhyming slang for "nix."

By extension 86 came to mean, "Don't serve anything to the indicated party because he is either broke or a creep." (Presumably you see how a code would come in handy in such situations.)

Bartenders later used the term in connection with any person deemed too hammered to serve additional drinks to, and eventually it came to have the all-purpose meaning we assign to it today."

Answer 2

i believe it has a military or police origin and i hope someone else may confirm it