Ok, you got my curiousity up (I love James Bond movies but never thought twice about the martinis). I know I can't win by looking it up... but I did. I won't give the answer away, but for those who are also curious, check out this site: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmartini.html

According to The Straight Dope (http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmartini.html) it's apparently because as a double agent he's a little bit of a conundrum. Almost as much of a conundrum as a martini taken with gin and vodka (apparently most martini drinkers take one or the other). Also, most drinkers take their martinis stirred, but apparently since Bond takes both he needs to shake the martini to improve the flavor of the vodka. So he's basically all clean cut on the outside, but he takes his drinks in this in-cestuous manner. Ho, because he's a double agent, and he's never what he seems.

Or something. Personally I'm a beer guy, and this drink mixing crap is way too much trouble to go to for a nice cold drink.

crap. I didn't just break the rules did I? crap.

Rule breaker! You shall be punished severely.

12 lashes with a wet noodle!

It's a snooty way to order a weak martini. Just ask President Bartlet - oh, wait, he's not real either.

Generally, when a martini is ordered, it is given half a sitir with a martini spoon. Half, no more, lest you bruise the liquor. For Bond to order his Martini shaken, not stirred, is asking for the drink to be intentionally bruised and have the ice melted too much. Indeed!

Only a man with serious mojo could pull off a stunt like that.

I didn't read the straight dope. Does it agree with me?

Cecil be damned. If you knew the history behind the service, you'd know that 006 died from drinking a martini that was stirred with a hemlock covered swizzle stick surreptitiously slipped into place by a double agent. A bit of bruised vermouth is a small price to pay, don't you think?

Garret is correct. Shaking a martini melts more ice, puts air in the liquid and completely mixes the vermouth. For the high class folks at the ritzy places that Bond hangs out, this is a huge faux pas. The reason Bond specifies shaking is because he drinks vodka martinis and they need to be much colder than a classical gin martini or they taste like a horse's ass.

Tig - I thought 006 was the turncoat who Bond blew up in that movie with the cello girl.

Dang, here I am a day late again. Being a martini drinker who likes his martini's teeth-hurting cold, I knew this one. BTW--"bruising" a martini refers to ice shards being broken off during the shaking process. The shards melt in the glass (diluting the drink) and the light refracting thru the little pockets of water floating in and on top of the drink is the "bruising" of the drink.

I don't think I drink enough....

Bar story: I had this very young GI, obviously freshly from boot camp and probably never allowed in bars, legally, before come up to my bar and ask for a "very dry martini."

I poured him a shot of gin.

His disappointment was palpable: "That's it?"

"Yup."

"Damn. Okay, give me a Budweiser, then."

Thanks for the memory, Jim. ;o)

... I'm with Victor... when I have a martini, I want it cold.. thus the shaken and not stirred... sure, it is cloudy at first.. but that goes away in a few seconds as soon as the ice chips melt... Bond had it right....

Actually, the movies got it backwards. In the books, Ian Fleming always had Bond order his martinis "Stirred, not shaken" I think he even mentioned once that it was because shaking bruises the gin. I seem to remember at least one of the early Connery movies getting it right, but I don't remember which one now.

Yup - as Jed Bartlet says,

"Shaken not stirred would get you cold water with a dash of gin and dry vermouth. The reason you stir it with a special spoon is so as not to chip the ice. James is ordering a weak martini and being snooty about it."