Talk:Schnapps

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Snaps and schnapps appear to be different cultural spellings for the same thing. Merging the two would lead to greater cultural understanding. SilkTork 21:21, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Schnapps is describing a specific type of liquor; snaps is describing a cultural ritual that involves imbibing any one of several different types of liquor. They have the same etymological derivation, clearly, but the articles are about two different things. I think the link from snaps ("very much like the German schnapps") confuses the issue - maybe in the german language the word "schnapps" is used like the English "shot", but that's not what our schnapps article is about. —Bunchofgrapes (talk) 21:32, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

I agree with BoG. A snaps is not a particular type of liquor. The word "snaps" stands for a glass of a certain size containing liquor of various types (within certain bounds) and drunk under certain conditions which may well be best defined as ritual (involving a traditional repertoire of drinking songs etc.). It is the context that makes it a snaps; if one discretely takes out the liquor from ones cupboard the next morning and drinks the same amount of liquor, it is not a snaps. There is actually a lot more that could be written about Swedish snaps culture. I see no reason for a merge. u p p l a n d 18:35, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Is Schnapps supposed to be a low-class drink? Every time I see it referenced in American culture, whether it's South Park or any other program that makes fun of rednecks, Schnapps seems to pop up as the drink of choice of the rednecks or people who generally have no taste. For example, in an episode of Desperate Housewives, Susan's mom tries to set them up on a double-date, and the two male candidates (who seem to be a bit rough around the edges) bring Peppermint Schnapps...if I recall correctly. I vaguely recall other examples from other sitcoms.

The virgin suicides has a short monologue by the character trip fontaine about peach schnapps as an aphrodisiac - but nothing about it being low class. --12.195.96.196 01:34, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wrong alcohol content.

I've never seen Schnapps that was 80 proof, which is what 40% by volume roughly translates to. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_proof Where did anyone get this wrong 'fact'? 40 proof is around what you usually find.

Do a google search on "Schnapps Proof", and you will see any number of 100 proof Schnappses. —Bunchofgrapes (talk) 20:53, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

And this means what exactly? Pure existance shouldn't be the standard, unless somehow we're talking about taking an average of all 'schnapps' and their proof. Fact still remains, someone reading this entry, and walking into a standard liquor store will be surprised that they'll get blitzed only half as fast since they can only find 40 proof schnapps, not 40 abv schnapps.

Are you talking about an American liquor store? I think the problem is that the american definition of Schnapps (sweetened, flavored apertif) and the original German definition (unsweetened spirit, similar to brandy, which the bulk of the article is talking about) are quite different. The article could probably use a good deal more clarification. A quick web and google books source didn't turn up any authoritative looking sources, though. —Bunchofgrapes (talk) 03:16, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Schnapps/Schnaps not a recognized type of distilled beverage

I'm from Switzerland. Here, as well as in Germany and Austria (the German-speaking countries), Schnaps is just a colloquial term used for any type of distilled beverage (see German-language Wikipedia: de:Schnaps, which is interwiki-linked from this article, is redirecting to de:Spirituose which in turn is interwiki-linked to Distilled beverage here). It does not mean a particular type (as a colloquial term, I can also use it when I speak of whisky, for instance), although it is usually not used for sweetened liquors. The spelling Schnapps is more or less unknown here. I added a bit to the article reflecting this. Gestumblindi 00:30, 1 December 2006 (UTC)