Perhaps LonePalm could tell the group about the nautical term to “86”? I do enjoy their nautical terms definitions. That would be Deep Six.
It means to throw overboard. It comes from the leadsman's cry, "By the deep, six."
When sailing ships believed themselves near land or shoal water but couldn't see due to fog, they would station a man at the bow to hurl a lead weighted line marked with bits of cloth or leather to indicate the depth in fathoms. "By the deep, six," would mean that the water depth is more than six but less than seven fathoms (36 ft < depth < 42 ft).
Sometimes a bit of tallow or wax would be put in a depression at the bottom of the weight to bring back a bit of the bottom (sand/mud/shell/etc). It would give additional information as to where the ship was.
WWG1WGA
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
“86” would be, perhaps, an electrical term.
In plants and large substations, the protective relay system is designed to remove short-circuited equipment from service while retaining the remainder of the electric grid. For example, in a substation, if there’s a short circuit on a substation bus (the thick conductors that tie many lines together), the relay scheme is designed to trip breakers to isolate the shorted (faulted) bus and maintain power everywhere else.
Now, in order to trip many circuit breakers, and lock them in the tripped (open) position, an auxiliary relay is often utilized. All relays have a function number, and the lockout relay is designated an “86”. So, if a squirrel gets on a substation bus an creates as short circuit condition, the detecting relay sees the short circuit, and it in turn, causes the “86” relay to operate, causing many circuit breakers to open.
The result - a dead substation bus, no ability to put back in service without human intervention, and all the rest of the grid remains intact. The substation bus is “86’ed” and cannot be resuscitated while the rest of the grid is intact.
An 86 on a human is a hit. Whitless is calling for a hit on the president.