historical origins of drinking gesture

[Donna Seifer]

Dear Margarita et al,

I was told a rather different "legend" about the origin of this gesture at
least 30 years ago by a local émigré architect from Leningrad. It all
related to Peter's boots.

Peter the Great was very tall with long legs and very small feet.  It was
difficult to find a bootmaker (sapozhnik) who could fit him properly.  When
he found such a bootmaker, he was so pleased, he not only paid him well, but
gave him a ceramic mug (kruzhka) with Peter's insignia on it so that the
bootmaker could go to any tavern in Petersburg with it and drink to his
heart's content at no cost.

Well, the sapozhnik got drunk, (NB: "пяный как сапожник"), his mug smashed
to pieces when he dropped it on the cobblestones as he stumbled home.  When
the tsar wanted another pair of boots made, he came back to our sapozhnik
and asked whether he was happy with his insignia mug.  The sapozhnik said,
"It would have been better to put your insignia here, pointing to his neck
under the jaw."

Others both in Russia and abroad, including a local émigré bootmaker from
Leningrad, have confirmed this tale over the years.

I may be completely in error, but the "legend' described by Emily to me
smacks of Russian patriotic historical revisionism.

Donna Turkish Seifer, M.A.
Instructor in Russian Language & Culture, Ret.
Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR (1977-2007)

Russian Language Services: Translation, Interpretation & Consulting
5909 SW Southview Place Portland, OR  97219
Tel:   503-246-0329
Fax:  503-246-7500
donnada at mac.com
donna.seifer at comcast.net







On 10/10/08 6:55 AM, "Emily Johnson" <emilydjohnson at OU.EDU> wrote:

> Margarita, there is a whole story  connected to that in Bashutsky's
> 1834 Panorama Sankt-Peterburga.  Supposedly the angel on the Peter
> and Paul Cathedral broke, and, just as they were taking estimates to
> build scaffolding so that they could access the top of the spire and
> fix it, a common laborer announced that he could do it with minimal
> equipment.  There are elaborate illustrations showing how he climbed
> up the spire on a rope harness and rope ladder (blood spurting from
> under his nails at the effort).  When he got done, the tsar rewarded
> him by giving him a new set of clothes and a certificate that
> entitled him to free beverages in the taverns of the capital.
> Predictably, the certificate was promptly lost/stolen.  At which
> point, the fellow went to beg the tsar for a replacement.  The tsar
> reportedly had the sign authorizing the free beverages tattooed on
> the man's neck--hence, supposedly, the origin of the gesture.  I
> think there is something about this in Pyliaev as well.
> 
> I hope this helps.  Emily
> 
> 
> Dr. Emily Johnson
> Associate Professor
> Dept. of Modern Languages, Literatures & Linguistics
> University of Oklahoma
> 780 Van Vleet Oval, Room 206
> Norman, OK 73019
> phone: (405) 325-1486
> fax: (405) 325-0103
> emilydjohnson at ou.edu
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Oct 10, 2008, at 8:16 AM, Margarita Nafpaktitis wrote:
> 
>> 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
>> 
>> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
>> 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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