# What is a 'short snorter'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2007, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-short-snorter/410795 "2007-07-07T01:33:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-short-snorter/410795/1 "2007-07-07T01:33:59Z")
Back in the '80s I worked at Edwards AFB. One of the engineers i worked with had been in the USAAF in WWII, and one day he mentioned a ‘short snorter’. I don’t remember exactly what it was. I’ve heard a few different explanations: It was a dollar bill (or pound note) one carried to buy the last round of drinks. It was a dollar or pound that was signed by two friends and then torn in half before a mission/deployment. Each man would take half of the note, and present them to each other when they met again (when they would procede to get drunk together). Each man would produce a bill/note and each would be signed by everyone in the group as a souvenier of the occasion. It was some sort of drinking game. It’s like being a Turtle. So which is it? One of them? All of them? None of them? If it was a game, how was it played? I can’t ask Bob, since we’d have lost contact over the last 20 years even if he wasn’t dead. Which he is. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-short-snorter/410795/2 "2007-07-07T02:02:00Z")
Most “short snorters” which come into our coin shop are indeed from the estates of GIs from 1942-1945. Seldom are they torn. They have anywhere from 2-15 signatures. But the origin of the term goes back before the war… > [@](#): > > “A good luck charm and drinking game all rolled into one”, the Short Snorter was a uniquely American tradition with obscure origins but popularized by air crews during WWII. Back then, a “snort” was slang for a stiff drink, and a short one was something less than a full pour. A “short snorter” was both a member of the military who had flown across the Equator or from country to country, and the membership card of this fraternity: a one dollar bill signed by two other short snorters. The currency of other nations and territories were often added to a short snorter in chains that could reach over six feet in length. . From [http://greensleeves.typepad.com/berkshires/2006/11/index.html](http://greensleeves.typepad.com/berkshires/2006/11/index.html) I’m not citing this as a current state of the art in looking for the origin, but it’s factually written. It predates WWII ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-short-snorter/410795/3 "2007-07-07T02:03:28Z")
> [@](#): > > A “Short Snorter” is a chain of foreign paper currency taped together end to end. The longer your “short snorter” the more countries you had visited. [http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/homefront-other.html](http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/homefront-other.html) But see, [456thbombgroup.org](http://456thbombgroup.org/snorters.html) (giving multiple definitions); [Slang of the 5th AF in WWII](http://www.kensmen.com/slang.html) ; [Ron's Currency, Stocks and Bonds: Online Museum of Paper Money](http://www.ronscurrency.com/rcpmfaq.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-short-snorter/410795/4 "2007-07-07T02:11:44Z")
[QUOTE=Gfactor] > **[Ron's Currency, Stocks and Bonds: Online Museum of Paper Money](https://paperfellows.com/www-ronscurrency-com)** > > a site for collectors of currency, paper money, stocks and bonds, and the hobbies of Syngraphy and scripophily. [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > The following is what I’ve pieced together from several conversations. Typically, during WWII, servicemen out for a drink would have their buddies sign each others notes. At a later date, when they got together, if the other guy didn’t have his note, or whoever had the note with the least amount of signatures had to buy the next round of drinks. So it sounds as if the short snorter was started at one gathering where signatures were gathered, and more signatures were added to it during the bearer’s travels. When it was filled, he’d attach another note (often the local currency) and continue to collect the signatures of his drinking partners. When the original group (or any group?) of ‘short snorters’ gathered, the one with the shortest snorter would buy a round of drinks. Right? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-short-snorter/410795/5 "2007-07-07T02:14:56Z")
To expand on the definition as it was known in and about 1942–If you crossed the ocean by air, you were a member of a “club.” You got people to sign a banknote: In the case of an American, it was usually a dollar bill. If you were British, it was a 10 shilling note. The “game” was that, if someone asked you for your “short snorter” you had to produce it. If you didn’t, you owed them a drink. Or a “dollar.” Most short snorters are from WWII, but it certainly existed way before then. And, now that I’ver read JLA’s last question, NO. The one with the shortest snorter didn’t buy drinks. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-short-snorter/410795/6 "2007-07-07T02:17:01Z")
[Google](http://www.google.com/search?q=%22short+snorter%22&hl=en&start=20&sa=N) yields up several sets of short snorter rules, all of them different, and all presented as equally authoritative. The reason is that each unit determined its own rules. Some ripped the bill in half; some didn’t. Some attached bills from each country you were posted to; some didn’t. Sometimes a snorter meant you had crossed the Equator; sometimes not. Sometimes there was a required sign and countersign; sometimes not. About the only constant was that you had to have it on you when requested or you were expected to buy a drink for at least that person, and frequently more. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-short-snorter/410795/7 "2007-07-07T02:22:46Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] [Google](http://www.google.com/search?q=%22short+snorter%22&hl=en&start=20&sa=N) yields up several sets of short snorter rules, all of them different, and all presented as equally authoritative. [/quote] Anyway it sounds like fun. And excuse to meet people and drink. We should start one at the next DopeFest. [QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Sometimes there was a required sign and countersign; sometimes not. [/QUOTE] Are you a Turtle? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-short-snorter/410795/8 "2007-07-07T02:36:31Z")
Nope. If I ever did have to cross the Equator with a bunch of men, I don’t know what I’d do. I don’t handle ritual well. ---
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-short-snorter/410795/9 "2007-07-07T16:53:31Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Anyway it sounds like fun. And excuse to meet people and drink. We should start one at the next DopeFest. Are you a Turtle? 😃 [/QUOTE] You bet your sweet ass I am! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-short-snorter/410795/10 "2007-07-07T18:03:52Z")
History Detectives on PBS just aired a story on an historic “short snorter” signed by some important people in WWII. [short snorter](http://television.aol.com/episode/continental-currency-short-snorter-liberty-bell-pin/history-detectives/EP5842970047?programstarttime=1183852800&stationkey=26182) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-short-snorter/410795/11 "2007-07-07T18:50:19Z")
[QUOTE=Sigene] History Detectives on PBS just aired a story on an historic “short snorter” signed by some important people in WWII. [short snorter](http://television.aol.com/episode/continental-currency-short-snorter-liberty-bell-pin/history-detectives/EP5842970047?programstarttime=1183852800&stationkey=26182) [/QUOTE] Looks like it’s on THC today. I’ll be sure to record it.