Chapter 26 you cheer, i'm free

At a dinner party, the host suggested with infinite emotion: "Cheers, let's make the best sound in the world together!" This suggestion has undoubtedly been readily agreed by all the diners. Of course, if she said "Let's toast to so-and-so or so-and-so", "Welcome to everyone" or the more common sentence "Come on Come here, cheers, everyone is free", I think the effect she got is the same, but the feeling of toasting must be different, and even the taste of this glass of wine will change subtly. Why drink a toast?People from both Chinese and foreign wine countries have had various opinions on this issue.The more popular one is: in the Dark Ages of the European Middle Ages, conspiracies headed by poison were often circulated through drinking. Therefore, in order to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of the conspiracy, the two parties will clink glasses before drinking, in order to make their respective wines drink. Through the collision of wine glasses, an exchange is completed, reaching the safe state where you are in your cup and you are in my cup, and the vigilance against poison and conspiracy is lifted, so the wine can be drunk, and the friend and foe can be distinguished.

Even with a thousand different explanations, I believe that the creepy version above is more acceptable, since humans have proven themselves countless times that they are a species that is naturally inclined to accept "conspiracy theories".In addition, the logic of "you have me in your cup and you in my cup" is still applied to general security defense.Why do we wait patiently for a passenger who checks in a bag but doesn't board the plane?This is not out of the airline's care for the no-show passengers, but all of us have always believed that this person violated a basic etiquette of interpersonal communication: after "cheers" to all passengers and crew and all aircraft parts, Without even daring to "lick" it, it disappeared without a trace.

In front of the dining table in the peaceful age, let us imagine the purpose of toasting better.For me personally, the purpose of a toast is not to get myself and the other party drunk at the same time, nor to fulfill the customary etiquette, but to make the "best sound in the world" for entertainment - If there is no collision between the glasses, the table full of colors and fragrances can satisfy our senses, but it cannot be called "complete". Although both Chinese and foreigners love to drink, toasting is a Western etiquette; although both Chinese and foreigners know how to toast, only the Chinese say toast is the real toast.

"Fu Dabai" is an inherent drinking tradition in China. However, apart from costume dramas on the current wine table, whoever holds up a cup and says such a sentence with a blushing neck is likely to be regarded as sick."Cheers", which has been internalized as a part of our dietary life, comes from English cheers.In fact, cheers is just a term for toasting each other, without the meaning of "drinking dry".The reason why this word was translated into "Cheers" by our bold assumption and gulp is probably because Chinese wine must be "Cheers" to be delicious.Back then, I used my Chinese eyes to follow the American soap opera Cheers! "(Hong Kong translation of "Drinking Victory"), every time I cursed in my heart why the damn TV station didn't finish broadcasting in one night, and it was the same reason when I thought about it.

The Japanese not only do not lose to China in terms of good alcohol, but also equate "cheers" with "cheers". However, the Japanese "cheers" (pronounced kampai) does not contain the meaning of drinking all at once, and then translated into Chinese , I am afraid it is still closer to "casual"-of course, no matter whether it is "cheers" or "casual", what the tavern sends to the street after closing is still a considerable number of drunks. To be honest, I hate drunks, but I love watching Cheers.In other words, I hate the effect of this thing but love its cause. This is actually very similar to the attitude of ordinary people towards love.There is only one purpose of toasting, which is to get the other party or oneself drunk, and as fast as possible. Of course, if both parties can reach the climax of drunkenness as quickly as possible, it is more in line with the principle of happiness and morality.Therefore, cheers have an extremely heroic and almost tragic spirit and spirit. When you go to see those cheering people, most of them look solemn at the moment when they raise their glasses, and few of them have a playful smile.

Although the Chinese dominate the world by being good at "cheers" and daring to "cheers", but to make a Chinese person drink the wine in the glass in one gulp, they often have to do a series of patient and meticulous ideological mobilization work verbally. The rhetoric of ideological mobilization work is abundant, and each region has its own language and style.Even an impudent person like me who rarely attends "cheers" occasions and says he won't do it, knows the power of "deep affection, suffocation; shallow affection, licking".In addition, there are all kinds of reasons for "cheers". irresistible.

In my opinion, northerners are usually better at drinking than southerners. In addition to talent, it is largely due to the fact that the northern dialect can speak the word "cheers" forcefully and with strict justice. In fact, the word "cup" is often omitted Yes, the only thing that came out of his mouth was gnashing his teeth-"Dry"!In comparison, if a southerner were to pronounce this sound, it would be ridiculously graceful. Taiwanese who don't even want to drink their lives and dare to "dry" any wine, never use the word "dry" directly, but shout "almost dry", adding a particle before and after, I think , the reason why the single "dry" can't be said may be because it sounds like a curse word.In addition, Taiwanese people have a euphemistic way of saying, "Don't feed goldfish at the bottom of the cup", which means that if you don't "suffer" the wine in one gulp, do you want to raise goldfish in the wine glass?

Cantonese people don't like to use the word "dry", because they always regard water as wealth, and the word "dry" is not good for water, so "pig liver" is changed to "pig moist", and "cheers" is called " Drink wins". After all, persuading or forcing a toast is an art of language, a joyful work of lobbying, a man-to-man flirtation. The heroism with which we toasted can definitely be frightening.This is not only because we have a large capacity for drinking and are bold, but more importantly, we dare to drink the foreign wine that foreigners can't take a sip for a long time with three fingers. upside down.

Needless to say, national wines such as baijiu and rice wine are poured out of wine bottles for the sole purpose of toasting.Of course, beer can be dry, whiskey can be dry, and wine can also be dry. As for the most popular brands of French XO cognac, people in the country say that it can be dry. Who told you to have the word "dry" in your surname?If you don't do it, who are you doing? This is the most criticized part of Chinese drinking culture.In other words, if you want to use white wine and rice wine, no matter how unhealthy or uncivilized it is, it still belongs to the internal affairs of the Chinese people; if you want to use imported whiskey and wine, the seriousness of the consequences will inevitably affect our international image.

In fact, any alcoholic who has a little knowledge of foreign wine and drinking habits of foreigners will tell you that, except for Russian vodka, most foreign wine exists for taste.Therefore, it is an exploratory process that needs to be patiently smelled, contained, and played with, and then slowly swallowed, so that one can fully experience the variety of wine flavors.At the same time, different wines often have to be matched with different dishes to facilitate the interactive interpretation of deliciousness.Cheers loudly, reckless, even the wine is not good, what taste can you talk about?

Whether foreign wine is better to drink deeply or lightly does not involve the appalling question of taste, but is more due to different understandings of the functions of wine.In the minds of most Chinese drinkers, wine is actually a kind of medicine, or something more medicinal than taste, which can cure depression and troubles.Compared with foreign wines, most Chinese wines smell very fragrant, but there are no more changes in the mouth. It is often burned to the end with a knife, so it is more suitable for toasting.There is no evidence that drinking it in one gulp helps to stimulate the palate.The action of toasting is very similar to taking a decoction. Conversely, I have never seen anyone carefully taste what the medicine does. As a person who doesn't know how to drink, I'm actually not qualified to make irresponsible comments on the behavior of others "toasting" with foreign wine. Another reason why I don't want to do this is because I know people who often criticize this kind of behavior Most of them are irrelevant people, but the foreigners who make foreign wine and sell foreign wine actually agree with the toast. At the end of the 1980s, Xiamen was not considered a consumer city, and it was still a few years before Lai Changxing set up his sales office there. I knew Blues, a foreign wine agent from Hong Kong who was stationed there.Someone drank three bottles of Louis XIII in a certain nightclub one night and had to open two more.So Blues got a call from the nightclub owner requesting delivery in bed in the middle of the night.Blues, who has always been hard-working, arranged for hand delivery of wine, and drove to the office to draft a report for the head office. The theme was "Xiamen's cognac market has a bright future". Recently, I read a report in a trendy newspaper in Shanghai. In a red wine lounge opened by Singaporeans, the proprietress and the newspaper reporter talked about the cultural taste of red wine. Added: "If you are a friend, you have to drink!" These words and deeds made me very confused at first, but after thinking about it, they also made sense: the more you toast, the faster my wine will be sold. Almost no foreign wine company with business in China raised objections to the toast, "No Advocating and not opposing" is their most gentlemanly demeanor. However, I still believe that the executives of foreign wine companies will still feel a little bit of sympathy and a little bit of depression in their hearts for the behavior of toasting foreign wine.It's just that under a globalized market system, they can't help being depressed or not.Marxist economics foresees very early on that capitalism provides products for an unknown group of consumers.Consumers are the only real identity of the "cheers", and they are an "unknown" group, so you drink your glass, I sell my wine, out of sight and out of mind.So cheers, you "known" Thomas Mann.