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If Winter Comes Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Here's looking at you, kid

0I know that a famous line "Here's looking at you, kid." is from the 1942 film Casablanca. 02br
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00My question is the intepretation of this well-known phrase.02br
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00What would be the grammatical construction of this phrase?02br
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00Is it supposed to be interpreted as; "Here is to looking at you, kid.", meaning 02br
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00I WANT TO TOAST FOR THE FACT THAT I AM LOOKING AT YOU.02br
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00or,02br
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00"Here is to I who is looking at you, kid.", meaning 02br
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00I WANT TO TOAST FOR ME WHO IS LOOKING AT YOU.02br
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00Why there is no "to" after "Here's"? Is it ommitted? 02br
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00Can anybody, please, answer my question?0-
  

Top answer

" 02br 02br 00Although I don't like this as much as the one above, I think this also could be "Here is (all of us who are) looking at you, Kid" -- another elliptical construction. 0-

— Believer

  • " 02br 02br 00Although I don't like this as much as the one above, I think this also could be "Here is (all of us who are) looking at you, Kid" -- another elliptical construction.
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15 Answers
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0Hi,02br
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00I would take a chance and say that this could be an elliptical construction, which meant to be "The one here (i.e., "I") is looking at you, Kid." 02br
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00Although I don't like this as much as the one above, I think this also could be "Here is (all of us who are) looking at you, Kid" -- another elliptical construction. 0-
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0Neither. Don't try to read too much into this one. It's just "Good luck to you and your future endeavors."02br
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00If he had said "So long and good luck, sweetheart" it would have had roughtly the same meaning, but not been nearly as quoteable.0-
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01cite10Grammar Geek12cite10Neither. Don't try to read too much into this one. It's just "Good luck to you and your future endeavors."12br
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10If he had said "So long and good luck, sweetheart" it would have had roughtly the same meaning, but not been nearly as quoteable.12br
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0Thank you for your reply.02br
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00I was just a bit curious. Language is language. So, sometimes, perhaps, it would be02br
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00better not to look into too much and accept what they are.0-
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=Here is (my) looking at you, kid!
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"Here's looking at you" is also said by Horace (the deputy) in response to the sheriff's offering him whisky ... In East of Eden.
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It's not supposed to be grammatically correct. In the movie Casablanca, Bogart toasts Bergman, and he uses that line, "Here's looking at you, kid." When you give a toast you usually say, "Here's to Marco Polo for having adventures." In the movie though, Bogart is trying to illustrate that he loves looking at Bergman so that's why he says it. It is a toast to her beauty, and what everyone gets whe
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"Here's lookin at you, kid" can be broken down as follows: "Here's" is the set up of a toast. "Looking at you" is the toast. "Kid" is adressing the woman, you (in this quote). He's toasting the joys of merely having her in his sight. The missing "to" after Here's" is american slang, leaving certain prepositions out is common.
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Get over it. It's just a cool movie line.
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Well, that's the thing, it's not even that cool of a line. Quotable, memorable, yes! But not because it's cool in itself. It's actually pretty annoying.

If that line never existed and somebody says that to me when saying goodbye or for any reason, I'm going to think, "uhhh, cool bro. Catch you later." It probably made sense in Bogart's head and he blurted it out. Bergman just heard it an
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