Meaning of Idiom ‘Here’s Mud In Your Eye’
Here’s mud in your eye is a friendly and jocular toast used before taking a drink with friends. It is said in a humorous and ironic way just to signal to companions to take a drink.
Usage Notes
A toast is a ritual expression of honor or goodwill spoken before taking a drink. In this case, the toast is not meant to honor a specific person or thing, but is meant as a general expression of good wishes or simply for good times. This toast sounds mean-spirited but it is actually just meant in a joking and fun-spirited way.
Examples
“Let’s all have a good time! Here’s mud in your eye!”
“I’m glad we could all get together again. Here’s mud in your eye. Bottoms up!”
Origin
The origin of this idiom (toast) is often said to be Biblical, having to do with Jesus applying mud to a blind man’s eye, thus restoring the man’s sight. In this way, ‘mud in your eye’ could be seen as a positive thing or curative. The passage is found in John 9:6:
When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
It is difficult to determine if this is the true origin of the toast. Other claims are that it began with WWI soldiers having to fight in muddy trenches, but the phrase predates WWI. Another theory is that it is a way of wishing for a good harvest.
The idiom has been used in English since at least the mid to latter-1800s.
