Who said heres looking at you kid

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Evidently, the expression was widely viewed as being quintessentially American, which would make sense in Casablanca as another marker of Rick's Americanness. At any rate, in one of J. Marquand's Mr. Moto stories by , we have this bit of dialogue [combined snippets]:. Here's to you, Mr. Moto laughed again. What beautiful weather we are having! Or if it is quintessentially American, what does that mean about America? Since Americans are as Fowler says of people who grew up with the distinction between will and shall "to the manner born," the form "Here's looking at you" doesn't strike us as particularly odd.

Indeed, the similarly formed expression "Here's hoping" is used not just as the start of a toast, but as an equivalent in a multitude of settings to "I hope so. One of the earliest examples of "here's hoping" in a Google Books search appears in " Metaphors of the People ," in The Galaxy May , which quotes Mark Twain's description of toasts given in various locales in the U. The reaching of the popular mind after odd fancies is illustrated in Mark Twain's humorous explanation of the etiquette of the bar-room on the Pacific coast.

He says:. In a mining camp in California, when a man tenders you a "smile," or invites you to take a "blister," it is etiquette to say, " Here's hoping your dirt will pan out gay. The sentimental method of asking a person to drink is in the formula, "Suppose we shed a tear. Of all these expressions, only the "Here's another nail" and the "Here's eighteen hundred barrels" follow arguably grammatical form, but it appears that the "Here's X ing" wording arose fairly early and has shown impressive cultural persistence.

Toasts were uniformly drunk ; and occasionally, some one, who conceived himself peculiarly endowed by nature to shine in the way of wit, would attempt some such sentiment as "hoping that he" who treated "might make a better man than his father; or "live till all his friends wished him dead;" while the more humble pot-companion contented himself by saying, with a most imposing gravity in his air, "come, here's luck," or by expressing some other equally comprehensive desire.

In every instance, the veteran landlord was requested to imitate the custom of the cupbearers to kings, and taste the liquor he presented, by the invitation of "after you is manners;" with which request he ordinarily complied, by wetting his lips, first expressing the wish of " here's hoping ," leaving it to the imagination of the hearers to fill the vacuum by whatever good each thought most desirable.

Given decades of "Here's hoping That toast, in turn, may have prompted the toast, "Here's mud in your eye," which a Google Books search finds as far back as in the form, "Here's mud in your eye and a quick trip back to Texas! Both Medica's and Sven Yargs' answers throughly address the origin and etymology of the quote, but for the meaning behind it, we'll have to dissect the quote itself. That's easy enough to understand.

If we take the two together, we get the meaning of Rick's Toast. He's saying that looking at her is something to be happy about. And given the first time he says it he's being quite flirtatious with her, the intent is almost certainly to flirt with Ilsa. So, "Here's looking at you, kid" simply means that he's glad she's there, that she looks beautiful, and is a very unique way of flirting with her. Here's to is a common toast or even expression of a wish, good luck, or other sentiment, and has long been so.

Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark! Here's to my love! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. Here's to is still very common in English. The shortened version is "To". It is unambiguous. In Casablanca, Richard says it to Ilsa, the woman he loves as he says goodbye to her.

It is very much like Romeo used it. It can be used with anything. Here's looking at you was used before Casablanca. There is a book of that title by an author named Houghton.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned that — in Europe particularly — there is a tradition that says that one must look directly into the other's eyes when toasting, or bad luck will befall one "Seven years of bad sex". This may in fact be the origin of the phrase. The meaning is quite unambiguous to this native speaker. If I may combine some ideas from the existing answers:. The other literary examples previously mentioned all demonstrate the idea that, "Here's looking at you," is a statement of admiration.

In the context of Casablanca it is used flirtatiously. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Ask Question. Asked 6 years, 9 months ago. Active 1 year, 6 months ago. Viewed k times.

I'm sure many will know Rick's famous line from the film Casablanca: Here's looking at you, kid. In more detail, Here's [to] because it's a toast Was this phrase a common American expression at the time?

Why looking? Is it simply part of a common phrase or does it refer to looking at her as looking at a woman? Can you give me examples of similar or the same phrase, in context? Is the meaning unambiguous to native speakers or is there room for interpretation? Improve this question. Sven Yargs k 30 30 gold badges silver badges bronze badges. Ilsa Ilsa 1, 2 2 gold badges 7 7 silver badges 6 6 bronze badges.

Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Louis, Missouri: "Any friend of Mr. From " Things Pleasant and Otherwise ," in Ballou's Monthly Mahgazine May : "Ah," said the colonel, as he threw out a chew of tobacco, and took the bottle. Early extensions of the toast include this one from The Harrow [result not shown in snippet window]: French returns in a few minutes and finds the Sophomore has cultivated it up.