historical origins of drinking gesture

[Margarita Nafpaktitis]

Dear colleagues,
I'm teaching a film class this semester, and the subject of Russian drinking
culture has come up more than once in discussion, vis-a-vis several of the
films we've been watching, now that we've moved into the 1960s-70s.  I think
I know what flicking the throat just underneath the jawline means, but I
don't know its origins, and that was the most recent question from one of my
students.  Several other students in the class said that it had something to
do with a tax on vodka and a tattoo that one of the tsar's favorites had on
his neck exempting him from the tax...but I'd love a source and more
specific details for that.  Googling didn't really help me on this one, so I
appeal to your collective wisdom.

Thank you in advance,
Margarita

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Margarita Nafpaktitis
Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages & Literatures
University of Virginia
109 New Cabell Hall / PO Box 400783
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4783
Tel: (434) 924-3548   FAX: (434) 982-2744
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~mn2t/home.html

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