Cheers to the Chief

Long-suffering martini purists long ago recognized that any old drink that happened to be served in a martini glass would be given that name, however undeserving, but stand firm on the classic recipe nonetheless:

[A]s a result of the publication of this monograph, I shall be offered innumerable Martinis. I also know that most of them will be downright poisonous or otherwise unacceptable...
In the first place, the Martini on the rocks is an abomination, and must be classed with fast foods, rock and roll, snowmobiles, acid rain, polyester fabrics, supermarket tomatoes, and books printed on toilet paper as a symptom of anomie. My Martini shall be served "straight up" in a thoroughly chilled, stemmed glass. The gin, but not the vermouth...shall have been chilled before mixing, and the gin and vermouth shall be shaken or stirred -- I don't care which -- with good ice. "Good" means made from spring water, or failing that, Perrier or the like. (Lowell Edmunds, "Martini, Straight Up", Preface to the First Edition, 1979)

SC confesses, before preceding further, that he is a vodka martini drinker, not a gin martini drinker, and has a taste for many of the adulterated concoctions that earn Dr. Edmunds' disapproval. Nevertheless, a short sampling makes reasonably clear that -tini is now simply a suffix meaning "served in a martini glass, possibly containing vodka or gin":

• A partial selection from the Cheesecake Factory (click on "From the Bar"; formatting per original):
  

  TROPICAL MARTINI
  Absolut Vodka Shaken with Passion Fruit, Mango and Pineapple

  BIKINI MARTINI™
  Malibu and Cruzan Pineapple Rums with Pineapple Juice.
  Delicious!

  ASIAN PEAR MARTINI
  Absolut Vanilia Vodka, Pear, Sake and Passion Fruit

  RED RASPBERRY MARTINI
  Stoli Raspberry Vodka, Chambord and Fresh Raspberry

• A couple from the Ruth's Chris Steak House drink menu (formatting largely per original):
  

  Fusion Martini                
  The ultimate fusion of Belvedere Lemonessence &
  Belvedere Vodka with a touch of fresh lemon sour. Served up.

  Pear Twist Martini                
  Belvedere Lemonessence is "twisted" with
  Absolut Pear Vodka and fresh lemon sour. Served up.

So when SC saw the following show up in an e-mail from the Patina Group this afternoon, he wondered what was particularly Obama-related about an "Obamatini":

Alas, no information is available from the company's website, so SC set out in search of Obamatinis to see what other people thought might be characteristic; recipes from the first 4 pages of Google results are shown:

• Chocolate vodka, Frangelico and Chambord (link)
• Zodiac vodka, Blue Curacao, sour mix and blueberries (link)
• Godiva white chocolate liqueur and vodka (link)
• Rye (eww), cardamom vodka (double ewww), various fruit juices and grenadine (link)
• Ciroc (a grape-based "vodka" only dubiously entitled to the name), lemonade and Chambord (link)
• Vanilla vodka and Godiva dark chocolate liqueur (link)
• Self-consciously avoiding "race-based liqueurs", Grey Goose, blueberry juice and Chambord (link)

The obvious choices are things that link Obama to his party (Blue Curacao, blueberry juice) or are suggestive of physical appearance (the various selections of chocolate vodka), but the recurring Chambord was a total surprise -- nothing whatsoever obviously links the President-Elect to raspberries generally or Chambord in particular (including several pages worth of Google results for each pairing).

A final note of linguistic observation: SC was surprised it was "Obamatini" instead of "Obamartini", as the latter seems like the obvious choice from an orthographic standpoint. However, Obama and -tini are clearly the morphemes available for combination (when it isn't a Baracktail instead), and so the morphologically expected result is observed instead.

 

Comments

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I loved the last post, and what you said about the resulting blend 'Obamatini'. I don't know that much about American dialects, but I know that some exhibit rhoticity, and some don't. I also know from the radio that some people pronounced the 'ma' in Obama like it would be pronounced in Martini in non-rhotic speech. Would be interesting to privately know the socio-geographical origin of the person who came up with the Obamatini...

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