{"id":4849,"date":"2018-04-12T20:22:19","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T19:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=4849"},"modified":"2026-01-07T17:47:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:47:06","slug":"cheers-prost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/cheers-prost\/","title":{"rendered":"How do you say &#8220;cheers&#8221;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/prost.jpg\" alt=\"Clinking glasses\" class=\"wp-image-4857\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/prost.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/prost-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The Austrian equivalent for &#8220;cheers&#8221; is <em>Prost<\/em>. A simple pronunciation guide is to ensure the word rhymes with &#8220;toast&#8221; (as spoken in dialect-free British English). It&#8217;s not perfect, but it&#8217;ll do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/traditional-food-drink\/\">Viennese food &amp; drink<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/beer\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"32\">Beer in Austria<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/vienna-wine\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2414\">Viennese wine<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prost!<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cheers.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cheers.jpg\" alt=\"Beer glasses\" class=\"wp-image-30194\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cheers.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/cheers-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Um, Prost!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of Prost, you can say <em>zum Wohl<\/em> (which sounds a little like zoom vole), particularly if drinking wine. This expression means &#8220;to your health&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whatever you say, try to avoid mixing terms. So when the first person says Prost to you, say Prost back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s the simple bit over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re out with Austrians, you also need to know the set of behavioral rituals required when saying cheers (Prost). These apply mostly to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/beer\/\">beer drinking<\/a>&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Rule 1<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do not start drinking until you have completed the Prost ritual<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s bad form to start your beer before you have said Prost to everyone and they have returned the compliment. Think of it like queue jumping in England: a mortal sin which can lead to immediate arrest and deportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As such, you normally wait until everyone has their drinks, where practical. If someone joins the table late, you can even find people apologising for having started before saying Prost to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Rule 2<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Say &#8220;Prost!&#8221; as you clink glasses with each person at your table within reach<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a horribly nuanced one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many philosophical and anthropological treatises deal with the appropriate clinking behavior when not everyone has the same drink. There are three main schools of thought:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>A. Clink glasses with anyone drinking alcohol<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>B. See A, plus those drinking non-alcoholic beverages (but only if they are in the minority and look like they want to join in)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>C. Clink glasses with those drinking the&nbsp;same as you and do a general &#8220;Prost!&#8221; in the direction of others<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Special cases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If people are out of reach, raise your glass at them instead of clinking. If there is a large group of people out of reach, you may raise your glass in their general direction and be excused the requirement to toast people individually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It takes years of experience to know the exact distance at which people become &#8220;out of reach&#8221; and the number of people required to turn a set of individuals into a group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re the only one drinking, then a general &#8220;Prost!&#8221; to everyone is perfectly acceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I really need to do some kind of flowchart.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"299\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/beerprostcheers.jpg\" alt=\"1919 caricature of a beer drinker\" class=\"wp-image-88023\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/beerprostcheers.jpg 299w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/beerprostcheers-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 299px) 100vw, 299px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(&#8220;The beer drinker&#8221;; caricature drawn by Fritz Sch\u00f6npflug and published on a postcard by Br\u00fcder Kohn KG (B. K. W. I.) around 1910; Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 75936\/2; excerpt reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC0 licence)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Rule 3<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do not clink glasses over or under another pair of clinking glasses<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When two glasses come together, they should do so in a free space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If those to the right and left of you are clinking glasses, for example, you would wait before clinking with the person opposite you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cross-clinking opens a portal to hell, through which you are immediately transported to spend eternity eating cake through a straw. (And it&#8217;s not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/the-sachertorte\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2049\">Sachertorte<\/a>, either.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Multiple glass clinking (as in the photo at the top of the article), where several glasses come together at once, is vaguely acceptable but rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quite which part of the glass you clink remains a mystery to me. I believe the choice is flexible, but I&#8217;m told there are regional differences in Austria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Rule 4<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Look each person in the eye as you say &#8220;Prost!&#8221; to them individually<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This rule is important. It is not a time for modesty or introspection. It is a time for declaring yourself ready, willing, and of brave heart and sound spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Congratulations: you are now Austrian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>P.S. I may have exaggerated some of this information. But the general points stand: say Prost, clink glasses and look them in the eye as you do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Austrian equivalent for &#8220;cheers&#8221; is Prost. A simple pronunciation guide is to ensure the word rhymes with &#8220;toast&#8221; (as spoken in dialect-free British English). It&#8217;s not perfect, but it&#8217;ll do. Prost! (Um, Prost!) Instead of Prost, you can say zum Wohl (which sounds a little like zoom vole), particularly if drinking wine. This expression [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eatingdrinking","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4849"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88024,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4849\/revisions\/88024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}