fact or fiction?

[Auld Phart]

 

[Leweman]

Makes sense. Imagine wiping your ass back then. Whisky would help.

 

[otto105]

View attachment 962950

Fiction

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/shot-whiskey-origin/

 

[rightwinger]

It’s a great story, but fact checkers at Snopes have discerned that not only were people using the word “shot” in reference to booze before the Old West period, but also that the cost of a cartridge and a shot of whiskey differed quite dramatically. According to the 1891 edition of “General Catalog” — a trade publication from Chicago hardware company Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett, & Co. — the cost of .45 cartridges was $25 per thousand, meaning each cartridge was priced at around 2 and a half cents. On the other hand, “Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology and History in Virginia City” by Kelly J. Dixon, discloses that the cost of any drink containing liquor in the Old West was approximately 25 cents — 10 times that of a bullet cartridge.

Where Did the Term ‘Shot of Whiskey’ Come From?

The term "shot of whiskey" finds its origins in a muddled combination of entertaining theories, most of which are more more fiction than fact.

vinepair.com

 

[Oddball]

Fiction

Did the Phrase 'a Shot of Whiskey' Originate in the Old West?

 

[otto105]

View attachment 962961

As opposed to you looking at you ass.

I’ll take Snopes

 

[Oddball]

As opposed to you looking at you ass.

I’ll take Snopes

 

[Crepitus]

View attachment 962950

Apparently fiction.

"The 1891 edition of Chicago hardware dealer Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co.'s General Catalog lists Smith & Wesson .45 cartridges at a price of $25 per thousand, or 2-1/2 cents per cartridge. For the price of a shot of whiskey, we consulted Kelly J. Dixon's 2005 book Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology and History in Virginia City, which notes that the average cost of a measure of any drink was around two bits, or 25 cents (although the cost later dropped as competition increased when more Americans moved west). Using those figures as our base prices, one shot of whiskey would have cost the equivalent of 10 cartridges. "

Did the Phrase 'a Shot of Whiskey' Originate in the Old West?

Anecdotal reports say the expression "a shot of whiskey" came into being when cowboys traded bullets for liquor in Old West saloons.

www.snopes.com