A Toast!
One of the newer additions on the blog-roll is the “Beer and Whiskey Bros” blog, for reasons that should be immediately… if not sooner… apparent. So… I was reading this post this weekend and put my suggestion in the comments, for what that’s worth, and it ain’t worth a whole helluva lot. But their point is well-taken: we, as Americans, don’t have a “national toast,” and I think we should. My suggestion:Ahem. “F*ck Yeah!” should be the official toast, with or without the preceding “America!” Using “America” would depend on the circumstances, of course.
That said, I almost always use the British “Cheers” when clinking glasses with friends and fam’bly (coz I’m an Anglophile of the highest order). I’ve NEVER used the Irish “Slainte,” nor has “à votre santé” ever crossed my lips. Same thang for “Prosit!”, but I will admit to using “Kampai!” and “Salud!” on occasion, mostly depending on present company, especially in the way-back when we lived in Nippon.And you, Gentle Reader? How do you toast? Further… do you have a suggestion for a typically AMERICAN toast?(Illustration stolen from the Beer and Whiskey Bros.)
I KNOW The Lexicans should have an opinion on this very pertinent subject… so let’s hear it!
(Reblogged from EIP.)
L’Chaim is popular for us. When the drink is appropriate the words are “For Strength”.
Cheers works too. Or something specific to the occasion. And sometimes, because it’s just The Oracle and me, we say “To Us”.
I echo Kris’ “For Strength”… with the right drink of course.
Salut works as well
Hmm, well if we were talking about just CA we could say “go fer it” – or would that work nationally?
“F*ck Yeah!” just doesn’t seem right for black tie affairs
“Here’s to swimmin’ with bowlegged women” – Capt. Quint, “Jaws”. I’ve had to explain that to a great number of subsequently laughing drinking friends who don’t do English well.
My favorite has always been “To Fallen Comrades”.
OldAFSarge – your’s wins – in my book
Grandma used to say, “May this be the worst of our times”.
My father used a toast that, as a young kid, I never fully appreciated. Now I have the experience of half a lifetime (I’m an optimist) and many personal losses, I understand its deeper meaning and its universality: “Absent Friends”.
As for an `American` toast…..that’s not easy. “Accept No Bullshit” maybe?
Most frequently, it’s HWHN and me, so like Kris, it’s “To us.” Otherwise, having readily adopted UK expats as very dear friends, and currently loving all things Blighty, it’s “Cheers!”
AFSarge and Hogday – for the win. That would be HDs 2nd suggestion…
We’re Americans, good luck getting us to do *anything* uniformly! I have three toasts I use, as the case may call for it. The first, for those who have lived in places rife with “political correctness,” er, “cultural sensitivity”: “Death to enemies of nonviolence!”
From my father, who grew up along the Mexican border, came:
“Salud, y amor y pesetas y el tiempo para gastarlas.”
“Health, love and money and the time to enjoy them!”
And, for a formal event, like a Dining In:
“Here’s to me in my sober moods,
When I ramble, sit and think.
Here’s to me in my drunken moods,
When I gamble, sin and drink.
And when my flying days are over,
And from this world I pass,
I hope they bury me upside-down,
So the World can Kiss My Ass.”
Love it
A toast for every occasion!
Normally I would suggest “Damn I’m Good!” I’ve been using that for a while, obviously to wide spread agreement. However, given the state of the world and with and eye on current events I think we can use a twist on the Passover tradition of “Next year in Jerusalem” and go with “”Next year in Tehran.” We owe them.
I’ll repeate my all-purpose quote I left over @EIP for Buck:
“Here’s to you as good as you are and as bad as I am!
But as bad as I am, and as good as you are,
I’m as good as you are, as bad as I am!”
VX, It’s good to see you here. I’ve missed you commentary. Your toast reminds me of a quote in the Lord of the Rings: “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”