Around the world, the most common drinking toast is to good health. There are, however, a few more specific ways of raising a glass:
âTo good healthâ itself has many variants. In Slovenian, itâs na zdravje; in Spanish, salud; in Hungarian, egészségedre; and in Flemish, gezondheid.
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The Scandinavian toast skÃ¥l (pronounced skoal) has a more macabre background: It originally meant âskull.â
The word is alleged to have come from a custom practiced by the warlike Vikings, who used the dried-out skulls of their enemies as drinking mugs, with the evident advantage that the vessel could hold a large quantity of mead and was easily replaceable. Image may be NSFW.
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The Ukrainians, however, take toasts to another level. They say budmo! Thatâs not just to good health for some undetermined period of time, but for eternity. As translated, it means: âLet us live forever!â
Illustrations by David Doran.
