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- [Director] Action.
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(tapping)
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You're at a bar catching up with a friend
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you haven't seen in months.
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- Hey.
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- Hi.
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- [Director] The bartender brings you your drinks,
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and right before you take a sip,
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the two of you touch glasses and say,
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- Cheers, - Cheers.
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(glasses clink) (jazzy music)
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- [Director] Why does this happen?
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Do either of you know where this comes from?
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- Yes, actually.
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- [Director] If you know it don't say it.
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- Why don't, what?
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You just asked me if I know?
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(laughs)
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I think I do.
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- I think I know too.
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- You think you know also?
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Should we say it?
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Should we say it? - [Director] So what
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do you think it is?
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- It's a longer, - because,
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(fast forward)
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- [Director] Okay, you're right about that
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but where does saying "cheers" come from?
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- It's a TV show.
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(laughs) (applauds)
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- Which came first, the TV show?
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I don't know.
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(trumpet music) - [Director] The word "cheers"
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comes from the old french word for "face",
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"chiere".
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- Cher?
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We should just yell "face".
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(laughs) - Face!
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- Face!
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- [Director] Cheer evolved over time
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to mean mood or expression,
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and later went on to mean "A good mood".
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But the exact timing of the origin of the word "cheers"
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as a toast is debated.
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- I think I cracked the glass a little bit.
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- How? - When I was "cheers"ing
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too hard. I don't know.
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- [Director] According to Miriam Webster,
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the first use of the word "cheers" as a toast
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was in 1930.
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However, Oxford English Dictionary contends
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that the phrase "cheers" came into use earlier
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during World War One.
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- World War One.
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I thought it would be older.
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I'm thinking like,
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- Kings-- - Medieval times.
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- Yeah, Medieval, like - Like
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- Cheers! - Cheers!
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- [Director] Historians speculate that the origin
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of the contemporary toast was the Greek practice
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of pouring out some of one's drink
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to honor the Gods.
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- Pour one out.
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- Pour one out!
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What a mess!
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- Yeah.
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- Don't do that at my house, please.
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- Wait, for the Gods?
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Like the Gods would ...
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Drink the floor drink?
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(classical harp music)
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Pour one out for Zeus!
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(drinks pouring on the floor)
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- Like Santa.
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(twinkling music) Like leaving cookies
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out for him. - Yeah.
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- Can you imagine if you had to throw
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cookies and milk on the floor for Santa?
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(laughs)
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Unh! (cookies hit the floor)
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- There you go, Santa.
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(laughs)
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- [Director] Legend has it that the original purpose
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of the glass clinking was to keep away evil spirits,
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including the evil spirits thought to be responsible
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for making people drunk.
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- Oh!
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So if you cheers, you won't be drunk?
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That's bull-- (bleep)
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- So they're like, "But why am I getting ...
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Stupid all the time?" - Yeah.
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They're like, "Oh why-- - It's 'cause of
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the evil spirits! - Do my limbs feel weird?"
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- Let's clink our glasses-- - It must
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- They hate high pitched noises.
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- [Director] Author Douglas B. Smith
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suggests that people clink their glasses together
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prior to drinking because in the past,
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people would attempt to murder their enemies
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by poisoning their drinks. - Yeah.
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Knew that.
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(rewinding) They would cheers and then,
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some of my drink would go in your drink,
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and your drink would go in my drink to make sure
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we weren't poisoning each other.
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- That's what my-- - Is that also
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what you heard? - Belief. Yes.
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- Called it.
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(vigorous classical music) I mean,
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it happens in 'Game of Thrones'.
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When they pour each other drinks and they're like ...
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They don't drink until after - Yeah.
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- You drink. - Yeah, yeah.
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- It happens. - I think it's a weird
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social game.
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- No one is safe.
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(dramatic music)
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(jazzy music) - [Director] The word "toast"
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itself has a strange back story.
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Stemming from the practice of dropping
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a piece of charred or spiced toast in wine
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to make the drink taste better.
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(toaster spring)
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- Cheers the toast. - Cheers the toast.
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- And you just drop it in?
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Attention!
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A toast! (laughs)
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- I'd like to raise a toast.
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- Hey!
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(laughs)
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Yeah, it tastes like toast. - There's definitely a
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crack in this.
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- [Director] In the 1700s, the word 'toast' evolved
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to also mean the person being honored by the toast,
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leading to the phrase, 'Toast of the Town'.
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- Oh.
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- [Director] First century C.E. poet,
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Martial,
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detailed the Roman practice of having guests drink
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as many glasses of wine as there were letters
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in their hosts' mistress' name.
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- Stephanie was the most popular girl
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in their town. (laughs)
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- That's a long name. - And Al was just,
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no one was showing up to his parties.
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- Where'd Brad go?
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Ah, he went down at the 'P'.
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He's done.
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- Yeah. - Didn't make it.
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- Don't even have to worry about the poison
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when you're just choking on toast the whole time.
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- [Director] And over the years the custom evolved,
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and people no longer drank entire glasses during a toast,
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instead, taking a small sip of their drinks,
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or even just making eye contact
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with the person being toasted was enough.
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- It's like a greeting.
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Cheers, mate.
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Like, "Cheers" - Cheers.
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So people use it as their - Hi, Cheers.
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- Sign off on their emails. - Yes.
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Mm-hmm (affirmative) - I'm like,
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this guy.
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- Cheers!
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- Cheers!
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Jonathan.
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- [Woman] Hey, if you can get this back to me
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by the end of today, that would be really great.
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Cheers! - [Man] Cheers!
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(dreamy jazz music)