Social Suavity: Hear hear!

Oh, that lovely feeling of standing up in front of a crowd, raising your glass, and delivering a witty and heartfelt speech about the person (or persons) of celebration. I've often asked myself, while feeling sick to my stomach and praying that at least one person laughs at my joke, who ever invented this intensely pressurized tradition?

Well, I set out to solve this mystery and found the below explanation of its origins:

According to various apocryphal [yes, I had to look up this word too- meaning, doubtless of truth; uncanonical) stories, the custom of touching glasses evolved from concerns about poisoning. By one "mythical" account, clinking glasses together would cause each drink to spill over into the others. According to other stories, the word 'toast' became associated with the custom in the 17th century, based on a custom of flavouring drinks with spiced toast. The word originally referred to the lady in whose honour the drink was proposed, her name being seen as figuratively flavouring the drink. The International Handbook on Alcohol and Culture says toasting "is probably a secular vestige of ancient sacrificial libations in which a sacred liquid was offered to the gods: blood or wine in exchange for a wish, a prayer summarized in the words ‘long life!’ or ‘to your health!’”

Delivering a toast to honor an individual or an event is a world-wide tradition:

Traditional Irish Toast:
May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

In the British Navy, the officers' noon mess typically began with the loyal toast, followed by a toast distinctive for the day of the week:

Monday: Our ships at sea.
Tuesday: Our men.
Wednesday: Ourselves. ("As no-one else is likely to concern themselves with our welfare," is often the retort and not part of the toast)
Thursday: A bloody war or a sickly season (meaning the desire and likelihood of being promoted when many people die: during war or sickness.)
Friday: A willing foe and sea room. (meaning the payment of prize money after a successful engagement)
Saturday: Sweethearts and wives. ("may they never meet," is often the retort and not part of the toast) [I like this one]
Sunday: Absent friends.

One last historical tidbit I found interesting: the phrase "hear hear," meaning a shout of acclamation or agreement that is often heard following a toast, originated in the British parliament in the 18th century as a contraction of 'hear him, hear him'.

Here are a few of my favorite toasting paraphanelia! What's your favorite toast (or story)?