"Snort" is slang for a "mixed drink," and "short" specifies less than a full measure.

About 100 years ago, a 'short snort' was a slang expression for less than a full shot of liquor. Pouring short snorts guaranteed barkeepers a little extra profit in each bottle. Also, drinking only a short snort allowed the imbiber to honestly point to his moderation. Years before federal aviation regulations, pilots discovered that alcohol and airplanes do not mix, and fly-boys who drank heavily did not live long. Soon, pilots jokingly were calling each other 'short snorter'.

A short snorter is a banknote inscribed by people traveling together on an aircraft. Sometimes a series of banknotes, of different currencies, are joined together. The tradition was started by Alaskan bush flyers in the 1920s and spread through the military and commercial aviation. During World War II short snorters were signed by flight crews and conveyed good luck to passengers crossing the Atlantic. Friends would take the local currency and sign each other's bills creating a keepsake of their friends' signatures.