I don’t suppose any of you out there happen to know the kinds of phrases used in the seventeenth century when one was about to chug an alcoholic beverage? “Bottoms up,” which is the phrase I wanted to use, is very twentieth-century, and “cheers” is also way more recent.
I heart Wikipedia. It has pages for everything.
Alas, though, what I’m looking for here is less a toast, and more a “you know, I really shouldn’t drink this, but . . .” kind of phrase.
Well, toasts can be casual. Even “Cheers” is a toast. The Royal Navy links might be useful 🙂
You know, you might check lists of regency slang, which might give you some ideas. I have a few links to pages like that if you need them.
Pass ’em along! Even if I don’t use them now, such links are handy to have around.
http://www.printsgeorge.com/Regency-Slang_Main.htm
http://www.heyerlist.org/slang.html
http://regencycafe.tripod.com/regencycafeindex.html
On the chance you don’t know, Georgette Heyer was ‘the’ Regency author, known for her meticulous research into the Regency and Georgian periods.
http://www.gaelenfoley.com/index-06contact.html
Hope those help.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/22/messages/527.html
What an interesting topic to research! I have not given much thought to it before, but it is interesting how abstract the meaning “Cheers!” has become when it comes to drinking. I am having a load of fun looking up information on this one (and collecting fun and interesting toasts for my next night out!)
Hmmmm trying to remember my Shakespeare plays…
I would suspect Falstaff has a few.
would a “to your health” work?
Alas, no, and that’s the only period thing I can think of. This is more of a “you know, I really shouldn’t be drinking this” line.
Hrmm. As an actor, I can definitely find a line reading that would make it work the way you want to, but I’m not sure how exactly to translate that into writing.
It would be all about the wry tone and the raised eyebrow.
I occasionally get caught up in thinking about the difference between how prose and performance handle such things. This is one case where the performance would be much more effective: to get the right intonation and manner across, I would have to use more words, which would disrupt the flow of the moment. But the stuff on either side of that moment is very much about the interior experience of the character, which works better in prose.
Why can I not have my cake and eat it too and also a pony? <g>
I might, however, be able to have the line be “to my health,” in a manner that would communicate the irony. Hmmmm.
