Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 16:09:48 -0500

From: Denis Anson danson[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MISERI.EDU

Subject: Re: "911" as a verb?



On Thursday, January 15, 1998 1:45 PM, Keith Chambless

[SMTP:keith[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]BLUENEPTUNE.COM] wrote:

"They called roll, Irit wasn't there, they went looking for her,

couldn't find her, 911'd Westside Division, who sent a couple of

units. . . ."



I haven't seen this usage before. Has it been around for a while?



Virginia



I never heard it before. But I've heard of 86'd. And I've heard someone say

"I'll 86 you from the bar", so 86 is a transitive as well as an intransitive

verb, why not 911 too?



Keith

P.S. Hi. Just subscribed a couple of days ago.



I once asked a bartender about the 86 nomenclature. He told me that it stemmed

from a small restaurant that had a large menu, but the most popular item on the

menu was number 86. About half the time, item 86 wasn't available, so when

anything else ran out, it was referred to as being 86ed, meaning that they were

out of it. The usage was "86 the scrambled eggs." The meaning was that you

didn't take any orders *for* the item that was 86ed.



The usage now seems to have broadened to include not taking orders *from* a

person who has been 86ed.



Denis Anson