# Did you know this meaning of "88"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 7, 2014, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523 "2014-07-07T10:52:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/21 "2014-07-07T12:50:41Z")
I heard about it years ago. Maybe here? Not sure. There’s a short little highway by us called 88 that is a bit useless unless it’s rushhour on the interstate and I refer to it as takin’ the Hitler Highway. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/22 "2014-07-07T12:54:06Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > The 14 words in question are the white nationalist ethos “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White Children”, itself paraphrased from _Mein Kampf_ Ah, thanks. Yeah, I knew I didn’t want to Google that, especially as work… ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/23 "2014-07-07T12:59:35Z")
A few years back I bought a set of glass tumblers that were on sale very cheaply at Target. They were all decorated prominently with the number 88. I now only have one; the others all broke. I had no inkling of the neo-Nazi significance of the number at the time I bought them, but I wonder now if it may not have been why they were so much reduced in price. From other symbols on the tumbler and the box they came in, I infer that the number is actually supposed to be something to do with Nascar racing (but I know even less about Nascar than I do about neo-Nazis). ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/24 "2014-07-07T13:05:55Z")
I know nothing about NASCAR, but isn’t Dale Earnhardt, jr’s car #88? I strongly doubt he has anything to do with neo Nazi’s, so assume that this insider-code stuff is pretty minor… ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/25 "2014-07-07T13:13:27Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I know nothing about NASCAR, but isn’t Dale Earnhardt, jr’s car #88? I strongly doubt he has anything to do with neo Nazi’s, so assume that this insider-code stuff is pretty minor… When he started his career, he was driviing car #8. When he moved to Hendrick Racing, he couldn’t take the number with him, but 88 was available. I started out heree as **Rocket88** , but requested a change when I became aware of the neo-nazi connotation. That, and I thought it was kind of a boring handle anyway. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/26 "2014-07-07T13:22:06Z")
Was kind of peripherally aware of it, but mostly in a general sense of “Hell, if these freaks are into secret codes and dogwhistles, could they at least be creative about them?”. The sole appearance of the number means little to me (BTW when editing a drawing or picture that features a sports jersey or road marker, I like using “8” or “88” as a way to not have to redraw if I have to mirror-flip it to fit where it’s going to be posted). I was more aware of 88 as referring to piano keys, as mentioned above. Or maybe the Crazy 88s from _Kill Bill_. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/27 "2014-07-07T13:22:44Z")
It is a minor plot point in Homeland, a neo-nazi in a bar has an 88 tattoo. That’s when I first heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/28 "2014-07-07T13:40:00Z")
Learned about it years ago on this MB. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/29 "2014-07-07T14:19:39Z")
I learned about it through some form of media, either a TV show or movie, that was dealing with Aryan biker gangs and they explained some of their 88 tattoos / emblems. It was years ago, but I had really no knowledge of it at all prior to that, it may have even been one of those FBI Undercover Files documentaries where an agent went undercover for a long time with an outlaw biker gang. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/30 "2014-07-07T14:56:38Z")
I learned about it a few years back, when I went with a friend to a tattoo parlor. One of the designs was a swastika with an “8” on each side of it. I asked the tattoo artist what it meant, and he explained it. And that he did quite a few of them. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/31 "2014-07-07T14:57:06Z")
Put me down for Option 3: “I’ll put myself down as knowing about it for many years and not giving a shit about it for the same length of time.” Until someone mentions, “88 is a Neo-Nazi symbol,” I don’t even remember that I remember that. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/32 "2014-07-07T15:33:37Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > To tack a rider question on; would you judge someone with 88 in their user name (say, if I was **Mr. Kobayashi88** ) differently, or figure it’s just a number until proven otherwise? I would consider it was code, but be polite until I knew for sure. Don’t want to throw out the the baby class of '88er with the dirty bathwater of Nazism. But to the people who ‘don’t give a shit’ - why not? If people are trying to tell you something about themselves with their 88 tattoo or their personalized [14Words](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/28/AR2010042805335.html)license plate, why won’t you take their message? They WANT you to know. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/33 "2014-07-07T15:37:19Z")
I’ve only ever seen it on this message board, when someone was accused of Nazi sympathies for having 88 in his username. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/34 "2014-07-07T15:45:58Z")
in ham radio various things are abbreviated or symbolized for brevity which is especially useful with Morse code. 88 means ‘love and kisses’. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/35 "2014-07-07T15:49:04Z")
This all seems like a bunch of new “let’s create some cryptic code to scare the masses” bullshit. Not far from satanic ritual murders IMHO. Much ado about nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/36 "2014-07-07T15:49:42Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I would consider it was code, but be polite until I knew for sure. Don’t want to throw out the the baby class of '88er with the dirty bathwater of Nazism. > > But to the people who ‘don’t give a shit’ - why not? If people are trying to tell you something about themselves with their 88 tattoo or their personalized [14Words](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/28/AR2010042805335.html)license plate, why won’t you take their message? They WANT you to know. I would want to know the coded messages of neo-Nazis but can understand why some wouldn’t ‘give a shit’ - as it gives credence to wankers trying to assimilate our innocent numbers. I hadn’t heard of ‘88’ until that GQ thread, but as a Brit had heard of ‘Combat 18’, though it took years to find out what that referred to. It all seems like an attempt to lacquer hateful stupidity with an esoteric gloss. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/37 "2014-07-07T16:09:18Z")
Until a few minutes ago, “88” meant nothing to me except the number of keys on a piano. And the uniform number of some great wide receivers. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/38 "2014-07-07T16:10:35Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > It’s neo-Nazi code, H being the 8th letter of the alphabet so 88 = HH = Heil Hitler. It has a dual meaning. In addition to standing for HH, it also stands for an 88 word excerpt from Mein Kampf: _“What we must fight for is to safeguard the existence and reproduction of our race and our people, the sustenance of our children and the purity of our blood, the freedom and independence of the fatherland, so that our people may mature for the fulfillment of the mission allotted it by the creator of the universe. Every thought and every idea, every doctrine and all knowledge, must serve this purpose. And everything must be examined from this point of view and used or rejected according to its utility.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/39 "2014-07-07T16:12:30Z")
> [@Doyle](#): > > This all seems like a bunch of new “let’s create some cryptic code to scare the masses” bullshit. Not far from satanic ritual murders IMHO. Much ado about nothing. You’d be wrong, there. This isn’t “backward masking”, or Satanic Ritual Abuse, this is the use of a symbol by a group of people to self-identify. Having an “88” tattoo is exactly like having a swastika tattoo, except for being slightly more subtle. Unless you feel that there are in actuality no neo-nazis or white supremacists out there, that it is all “media hype”? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523/40 "2014-07-07T16:21:06Z")
“Did you know this meaning of “88”?” I had come across it in the past, probably more than once, but had forgotten it thoroughly enough that when I saw the thread title, I couldn’t have ventured a guess. So I can hardly say I knew this meaning of ‘88’ shortly before I opened this thread. But choosing between “Yes, I’d heard that before” and “Not until you told me,” I had to go with the former because, yes, I _had_ heard it before. These are two different things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-this-meaning-of-88/692523.md?page=3)