MY MOTHER’S GUIDE TO TOASTING IN DANISH. The scandikitchen post says: “When you cheer with Scandi folk, it is very impolite not to look everybody around the table in the eye before you take a sip. SkÃ¥l!”
I remember my mother explaining how Danes gave a toast. You should lift your glass and pause, then look each person at the table in the eye. If you didn’t pause, but brought the glass straight to your mouth, you were showing that you were too eager to drink. On the way down, there should be another pause and exchange of looks with each person.
My mother and my father would most often say, “SkÃ¥l! gamle du” to each other. My mother explained it as “skol, you old one”. (I heard it and have repeated it as if it were spelled: “SkÃ¥l! gamel du”, but Babel translates “You old one” as gamle du”.