Difference between shooters and shots?

[BustedFlush]

I kill time on Yahoo Answers "Beer, Wine and Spirits" board, and I'm always seeing questions about "Tasty shots".

There's always a parade of super sweet, innuendo-laden answers; the red headed slut, the slippery nipple, the purple hooter etc.

My answer to these questions is that you're doing it wrong.

To my mind the very point of a shot glass is to deliver a slug of harsh spirit directly down the gullet, bypassing the tongue, mouth and taste buds. If you're tasting it, then you're drinking it incorrectly - and if you're not tasting it; then why all the syrupy liqueurs?

I understand the appeal of sweet drinks, but it seems to me that's what the cocktail was invented for.

And I certainly understand the bar's position; if I could charge $5 for an ounce and a half of liqueurs I'd promote them any way I possibly could.

So is that what's really going on here? A conspiracy perpetrated by bar owners taking advantage of the uneducated drinking population, or is there a real difference between a shot and a shooter? Discuss!

[JMF]

no need for discussion, A

[KTinNYC]

I thought these were regional terms. I never hear anything called a shooter in the NE, like soda vs pop, but I could be wrong.

[Alcachofa]

That's what I've always thought, KT. We called everything in a shot glass a shot, no matter how pure or how overly concocted.

Then I moved to Atlanta, and suddenly I'm like, "why is everyone calling shots, shooters???"

In Boston, I've found there is a mix. I blame the "shooter" influence on New Hampshire.

[JMF]

actually from what I remember, the term shooter is a Florida term from spring break that then spread.

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

Option A is so clearly the answer that it's hardly even worth discussing. "Shooters" are for sorority girls and those who drink like them.

[davis_sq_pro]

Or, perhaps, those who want to drink WITH them :-)