# That joke was old 80 years ago. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 30, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-joke-was-old-80-years-ago/221702 "2003-12-30T04:28:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-joke-was-old-80-years-ago/221702/1 "2003-12-30T04:28:16Z")
A glass of Vodka or Gin is not a Martini. If you want a glass of Vodka or Gin just order the damn thing. How come every pretentious idiot has to say “Martini, extra-extra-dry” _wink_ \*wink. Or “just write Vermouth on the outside of the glass”, or “take the bottle of Vermouth to the next room open it quickly, then close it”. It’s a really annoying joke that just gets on my fucking nerves and was stupid before any of you were born. Plus, you’re wasting money a lot of the time. At my local bars chilled Absolute costs 3 bucks and you can have it in a Martini glass if you want. An extra-extra-dry Absolute Martini costs $4.50, And the bartenter charges the $4.50 if you order it that way, just for being a dumbass ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-joke-was-old-80-years-ago/221702/2 "2003-12-30T04:58:40Z")
You’ve got extremely low drink prices where you live., at least IMHO. And I’d love to know how you know that joke term “extra dry martini” goes back 80 years. You could be right. Did it exist prior to “Bond–James Bond?” I’m not dissing you. Just trying to ascertain if it’s a modern concoction, or old. I know. **Sue Dunhym** thinks I’m stodgy. Good night, “ducklips.” ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-joke-was-old-80-years-ago/221702/3 "2003-12-30T05:58:37Z")
Well, the dry martini at least goes back that far: > [@](#): > > the etymology of the Martini is as mysterious as any other potable creation known to man. The British long assumed that the drink originated with the Martini & Henry rifle, used throughout the Empire between 1871 and 1891, while New York alleges the origin of the Martini rests with Martini di Arma di Taggia, an immigrant bartender who in 1912 invented the drink at the Knickerbocker Hotel. The story emanates from a taped interview with a man who had actually tended bar with di Taggia. But then, the drink’s origins clearly lie pre-twentieth-century. Instead, di Taggia is often thought to have been the first to make a Martini using dry vermouth in favor of the traditional sweet vermouth… [http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink5058.html](http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink5058.html) Then again, this could be another internet marching and chowder society sort of reference. ---
**Author:** ![Titan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Titan2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Titan2)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-joke-was-old-80-years-ago/221702/4 "2003-12-30T06:49:12Z")
And the “whisper vermouth” line goes back at least to the 50s when I heard/read it in mags like the Playboy advisor/Esquire type. (how to be sophisticated in 10 easy lessons).There’s been pretenders ever since. I doubt it goes back too much farther tho.In prohibition times (late teens to '33) most of the martinis swilled used vermouth more liberally to smooth out some of that bathtub gin odor/taste. ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-joke-was-old-80-years-ago/221702/5 "2003-12-30T07:00:28Z")
I’m trying to figure out who would pay $4.50 for one tiny little drink. You could get a case of Pepsi for that much, sheesh! ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-joke-was-old-80-years-ago/221702/6 "2003-12-30T07:14:40Z")
Hehe since this is the pit I didn’t mean to come across with so much epmhasis about the 80 years as a matter pof fact, it was more hyperbole than information. I was more thinking along the lines that the Martini was invented around 80 years ago, and that somebody probably first made the joke about 5 minutes later. Knowing drinkers as I do, and considering that prohibition was repealed about 70 years ago(upon a quick check, almost exactly 70 years ago) and people had good liquor again I am willing to bet that someone made the lame joke first at least 70 years ago. And fuck no, I’m not going to try to prove that with cites. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gluteus\_maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-joke-was-old-80-years-ago/221702/7 "2003-12-30T08:10:55Z")
Oh, yeah! Lame-ass liquor-poseurs… the bane of bartenders everywhere! When I was tending bar and got one of those “extra, _extra_ dry” orders, I’d just strain the gin/vodka into a martini glass, and wave the vermouth bottle over the glass. Customers liked that (hey, “simple pleasures”, ya know?), and I often got a better tip for going along with their “joke”. I always felt the way **wolfman** does, but then, if they want to pay mixed-drink prices for straight-up drinks, it’s their money. I was more annoyed by the gits who’d sit at the bar, order a bottle of beer and a glass, and expect me to keep topping-off their glass from the bottle! Then there were those guys who didn’t know that a “Presbyterian” was just a grownup’s “Shirley Temple” without the maraschino cherry, and would whine, “Hey, how about putting some scotch in there?”… and I’d growl under my breath “If you wanted a scotch and ginger ale, why didn’t you just say so?”. ---
**Author:** ![Doc\_Nickel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@Doc\_Nickel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Nickel)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-joke-was-old-80-years-ago/221702/8 "2003-12-30T09:02:01Z")
I’m not a drinker or bar-goer, but I do recall “Hawkeye” from the TV show _M.A.S.H._ making _several_ such jokes. Hawk: “I’m trying to invent the world’s dryest Martini”. BJ: “Yeah? How’s that?” Hawk: “I’m going to drink this glass of gin while looking at a _picture_ of Vermouth.” There was also one where one of them used the “wave the bottle nearby” joke and I seem to recall one that was something like “Don’t get the Vermouth any higher than the stem” or something like that. Of course, the main joke was that since they didn’t _have_ any Vermouth, just the “chemistry-set” homebrew Gin, they couldn’t have had a “wet” Martini even if they wanted. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-joke-was-old-80-years-ago/221702/9 "2003-12-30T10:48:19Z")
I always thought when someone ordered a very dry martini, you’re supposed to hand them an empty glass. I guess my college buddies just had a strange sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-joke-was-old-80-years-ago/221702/10 "2003-12-30T10:50:01Z")
No no no. You don’t say “That joke was old 80 years ago.” you say “Last time I heard that one I laughed so hard I fell off my dinosaur!”