What is the origin of the expression "Three Martini Lunch?"?!
What is the origin of the expression "Three Martini Lunch?"?
I've read the wiki page about it...but did it really mean 3 martinis at lunch? If I had 3 full strength drinks during a 90 minute lunch, I don't know that I'd be able to walk.
Answers:
That's the idea. You take your client out to lunch, get him liquored up, and get him to sign the contract. Of course, you had 3 martinis, too, and you were worthless most of the afternoon.
And this was back when a martini was really a martini - gin and dry vermouth, shaken with ice, strained, with an olive, in a stem glass with a triangular bowl. These days, they call all sorts of mixed drinks martinis.
The term gained a lot of popularity during the Reagan administration, when the tax laws were changed. Before that, 100% of a business lunch was deductible, as were all other normal, reasonable, and customary business expenses. Suddenly, only part was deductible.
Remember the TV show "WKRP In Cincinnati"? Herb complained bitterly about the new rules. How in the world was he supposed to sell advertising to someone who was *sober*?