The phrase "raise a toast" refers to actual toasted bread.

Arts & Culture

B y the Middle Ages, the custom now known as a "toast" had evolved from its ancient Greek origins and was common in Europe, and the medieval era's culinary habits contributed to its eventual name. Many meals at the time included a piece of soaked bread or toast (known as "sop"), and during the holiday season in England, communal bowls filled with a warm, spiced alcoholic drink such as mulled cider or ale were common. They were known as wassail bowls, a name derived from the Anglo-Saxon greeting of "waes hael," meaning "be well" or "be in good health." Wassail bowls were garnished with slices of toasted, spiced bread.

Some theories suggest the toast was used to augment the drink's flavor or to serve as an accompanying snack — not hard to believe given the prevalence of sops. But it possibly had another purpose: In some cider-producing regions, the wassail tradition also included a blessing for good crops from farmers' apple trees, during which villagers hung pieces of wassail-soaked toast in the branches for the robins. Throughout the 17th century, the word "toast" became distanced from just the charred drink topper. By the 18th century, according to linguist Dan Jurafsky, English dinner parties often honored a guest as the "toast" of the night, a tradition that eventually evolved into the verb "to toast."

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By the Numbers

Year the first stand-alone electric toaster was made

1893

Percentage of Americans who watched the Cheers finale in 1993

40%

Did you know?

Shaking your head "no" actually means "yes" in some parts of the world.

The popular phrase "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" is an important reminder to respect unique customs and cultural etiquette around the world. In Bulgaria, that means adopting a cue that's altogether the opposite of most other places in the world: shaking your head side to side to express "yes," and nodding up and down for "no." One theory for how this regional body language developed suggests that, during Ottoman rule, Orthodox Bulgarians used it as a way to resist pressure to renounce their faith, nodding their head "yes" when asked to convert religions while inside meaning "no." Today, many Bulgarians try to accommodate visitors, who, if they're aware of the custom, do the same for locals — leading to potentially confusing conversations.