Cheers... - English Spanish Translator Org: Translation Forum � Translators Forums

sabrina · 03-27-2008, 05:53 AM

I've always wondered where that phrase comes from...I'm sure it's not used in the States or any other English speaking country, besides the UK. Everywhere you go, instead of saying "thank you", they simply say "cheers"...I wonder why?

Frank van den Eeden · 03-31-2008, 02:20 AM

exclamation
1 a friendly expression said just before you drink an alcoholic drink:
Cheers! Your good health.

2 UK INFORMAL used to mean 'thank you':
"I've bought you a drink." "Cheers, mate."

3 UK INFORMAL used to mean 'goodbye':
"Bye." "Cheers, see you next week."

(from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

exxc�ntrica · 03-31-2008, 03:03 AM

Hi Frank, I think Sabrina knew the meaning, she was looking for the origin:

This is one theory:

Quote:

This is a fine tribute to the wonderful absurdity of the English language: when you say, “Cheers,” you’re literally saying, “Faces.”
“Face” or “countenance” was the meaning of the original late-Latin word cara, a word whose mysterious history may include Greek, African and Spanish influence.
Old French picked up cara in the forms chiere and chere, which then entered English around 1200 as “cheer.” The meaning remained the same: “face,” or the expression on the face.
The word then became a model for how definitions tend to become more abstract over time. By 1300, “cheer” meant “mood” (presumably, as expressed on the face). “What cheer with you?” was a common greeting; it also became possible to “cheer someone up.”
“Cheer” also became equated with joyfulness; if you were “cheerful,” you were filled with good cheer.
Later in the 1300s, “cheer” could also mean a friendly party, or the food and drink at such a party. From this came the wise maxim, “The fewer the better cheer”—the fewer people at a party, the more food and drink for each.
By the 1500s, the definition was so general that “cheer” could refer to anything that gave comfort or joy.

exxc�ntrica · 03-31-2008, 03:04 AM

Another one, very similar, in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheering

Frank van den Eeden · 03-31-2008, 03:11 AM

Dear Exxc�ntrica,
you seem to be much older than me !...
(or is it wiser...?)

kellymellars · 05-02-2008, 09:48 AM

[quote=exxc�ntrica]Hi Frank, I think Sabrina knew the meaning, she was looking for the origin:

Cheers exxcentrica! (Thank you), and Cheers! (Good Bye)
Kelly

03-27-2008, 05:53 AM	#1
sabrina Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 366 Rep Power: 303	Cheers... I've always wondered where that phrase comes from...I'm sure it's not used in the States or any other English speaking country, besides the UK. Everywhere you go, instead of saying "thank you", they simply say "cheers"...I wonder why?

03-31-2008, 02:20 AM	#2
Frank van den Eeden Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Antwerp/Belgium Age: 62 Posts: 246 Rep Power: 382	Cheers ! exclamation 1 a friendly expression said just before you drink an alcoholic drink: Cheers! Your good health. 2 UK INFORMAL used to mean 'thank you': "I've bought you a drink." "Cheers, mate." 3 UK INFORMAL used to mean 'goodbye': "Bye." "Cheers, see you next week." (from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary) __________________ beste groeten - sinc�res salutations - kindest regards - atentamente - mit freundlichen Gr��en

03-31-2008, 03:04 AM	#4
exxc�ntrica Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spain Posts: 879 Rep Power: 578	Another one, very similar, in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheering __________________ �Aunque la conducta del marido sea censurable, aunque este se d� a otros amores, la mujer virtuosa debe reverenciarlo como a un dios. Durante la infancia, una mujer debe depender de su padre, al casarse de su marido, si este muere, de sus hijos y si no los tuviera, de su soberano. Una mujer nunca debe gobernarse a s� misma." *Leyes de Manu (Libro Sagrado de la India*

03-31-2008, 03:11 AM	#5
Frank van den Eeden Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Antwerp/Belgium Age: 62 Posts: 246 Rep Power: 382	exxc�ntrica Dear Exxc�ntrica, you seem to be much older than me !... (or is it wiser...?) __________________ beste groeten - sinc�res salutations - kindest regards - atentamente - mit freundlichen Gr��en

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05-02-2008, 09:48 AM	#6
kellymellars Forum User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 82 Rep Power: 66	[quote=exxc�ntrica]Hi Frank, I think Sabrina knew the meaning, she was looking for the origin: Cheers exxcentrica! (Thank you), and Cheers! (Good Bye) Kelly

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