Indians For Guns

There are many a 'Sayings' which we use without knowing its origins....But its good to know as to 'How & Why' these came about......
A SHOT OF WHISKEY
In the old west a .45 cartridge for a six-gun cost 12 cents, so did a glass of whiskey. If a cowhand was low on cash he would often give the bartender a cartridge in exchange for a drink. This became known as a "SHOT" of whiskey.

PASSING THE BUCK / THE BUCK STOPS HERE
Most men in the early west carried a jack knife made by the Buck knife company. When playing poker it as common to place one of these Buck knives in front of the dealer so that everyone knew who he was. When it was time for a new dealer the deck of cards and the knife were given to the new dealer. If this person didn't want to deal he would "PASS THE BUCK" to the next player. If that player accepted then "THE BUCK STOPPED THERE".
Briha

brihacharan wrote:There are many a 'Sayings' which we use without knowing its origins....But its good to know as to 'How & Why' these came about......
A SHOT OF WHISKEY
In the old west a .45 cartridge for a six-gun cost 12 cents, so did a glass of whiskey. If a cowhand was low on cash he would often give the bartender a cartridge in exchange for a drink. This became known as a "SHOT" of whiskey.

sir ji,
you always come up with new things....

Interesting origins brihacharan-Ji, very interesting indeed.

I don't know who makes these things up ....
One possible interpretation is given here. There are numerous explanations of where the word "shot" comes from. One thing is sure, while it can be shot from a gun, a .45 Colt cartridge is not called a "shot".

As to the "passing of the buck"
....... according to Wikipedia:

He (Hoyt Buck) is not known to have made knives until 1941 in Mountain Home, Idaho

and

After World War II, Hoyt and his son Al moved to San Diego and set up shop as "H.H. Buck & Son" in 1947.[1] These early knives were handmade and more expensive than a typical mass-produced knife, Hoyt Buck made 25 knives a week until his death in 1949.[1] In the 1950s the company began making knives on a much larger scale marketing through dealers as opposed to direct mail.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Knives

So the cowboy era was history and was the subject of much pulp fiction, when Hoyt started making knives under his name.
There are many variations of this story on the Internet. Makes you wonder what is made up and what is not.

xl_target - spoilsport; and brihacharan-Ji had such a nice story going too!

What imagination - whoever made up the story - very entertaining!