Why martini glasses?
 

Perhaps it is just me, but I can't stand martini glasses. I always end up spilling on my hand or on the floor, especially if I'm standing and drinking. Is there any rational reason why martinis are served in these god-awful glasses? I know the reasons for wine glasses, but I don't see a good reason for martini glasses.

As a follow-up, if I asked for a martini served in, say, a rocks glass, would the bartender look at me funny?

Boy, you have a drinking problem! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) I don't know if there's a reason, other than it's traditional. You are sipping, right? Because I've never had a problem with them.

If I drink a martini, I just pour it in a normal drinking glass.

The container it's in doesn't affect the taste at all, so it's really just traditional or "because I can"

Based on nothing other than my own experience I would say that triangle shaped glass has two major purposes for being shaped the way it is:

--1. A martini, a proper one at least, is a highly aromatic beverage. Ergo, the large opening to allow you to smell the beverage as you are drinking your gin. IE, your nose is in the glass as you are sipping.
--2. The shallow slope of the glass allows certain flavour agents to cling to the walls with a fairly regular certainty. Some bartenders do what's called a "scotch wash" wherein a small dose of scotch is swirled around the glass and then discarded, the same can also be done with vermouth in some cases.

Now like I said I have no back up to those points, I just pulled it out of my ass.

In answer to your last question:

Well let me put it to you this way.

A martini is a martini, international spies drink them right before they bang the super model. Straight gin is what a hobo drinks before he pukes on his shoes.

Stop sipping and slopping... just toss it back. This way you have nothing in your glass to spill.

I drink mine out or a highball glass at home...

it's highly effective to hold the glass with your thumb, pointer and middle finger on the glass itself, and your pinky and ring finger on the stem to stabilize it.

Interesting thoughts, thanks everyone. Do we have any bartenders on this forum?

I used to be a bartender. You can get a martini on the rocks in a highball glass. They're pretty good that way.