Interestingly, apparently no one knows where the phrase comes from. This is a rather interesting article about the topic that lists a large number of possible origins. Two of them could be very loosely interpreted at killing someone, or well someone dying anyway.
In the days before a safety fence was installed on the observation deck of the Empire State Building, people would commit suicide by jumping from it. The deck was on the 86th floor.
and
There are those who claim the term refers to 86 inches, the standard depth of a grave in the U.S. So to 86 something is to bury it.
That second one isn’t likely very true. Graves have always been referred to as 6 feet deep, which is 72 inches. Also, they’re not dug that deep anymore in the USA.
None of the others could in anyway be considered a threat. I suppose it comes down to usage though. If people in some region have been using it as a threat, then maybe it could be construed that way when used by someone from that region. But it still seems like a huge stretch to me.
I think the latter is also where we get the term to “deep 6” something, as in “the Mac and cheese cooked in cola was a terrible mistake, let’s deep six it and move on”.
Interestingly, apparently no one knows where the phrase comes from. This is a rather interesting article about the topic that lists a large number of possible origins. Two of them could be very loosely interpreted at killing someone, or well someone dying anyway.
and
That second one isn’t likely very true. Graves have always been referred to as 6 feet deep, which is 72 inches. Also, they’re not dug that deep anymore in the USA.
None of the others could in anyway be considered a threat. I suppose it comes down to usage though. If people in some region have been using it as a threat, then maybe it could be construed that way when used by someone from that region. But it still seems like a huge stretch to me.
I think the latter is also where we get the term to “deep 6” something, as in “the Mac and cheese cooked in cola was a terrible mistake, let’s deep six it and move on”.