There is a legend that the phrase “lay behind the collar” and the concomitant gesture - a click on the neck or a blow to the throat with the back of the palm - appeared thanks to one decision of Peter I. We found out if this is really so.

Phraseologism “laying the collar” means “get drunk”. There are several versions on the network explaining the origin of this phrase. One of them, Peter I decided to award the best ship carpenters for work and gave out certificates by which it was possible to get a free drink in a tavern or tavern. Everything would be fine, but the artisans often lost letters and turned to the king for a duplicate. And then Peter I, as an alternative, ordered each employee a stigma on the neck or collarbone. According to another version, Peter I came up with stigma so that the employees did not switch to other work. As compensation, the mark on the body gave the right to drink a glass of vodka for free in any institution of St. Petersburg. One way or another, the carpenters, to show the “royal letter”, unfastened the gate of the shirt and pointed to the stamp with a click on the neck.

This version has no documentary evidence, so the explanation proposed by the Soviet linguist looks much more believable, Doctor of Philology V.V. Vinogradov. In the book "History of words" He writes: “Joking expression“ lay a tie ”, less often“ skip a tie" In the meaning of "drink hop, to be tipsy" in modern spoken language is not used very often. <...> As the word "tie shows", this expression came out of the speech of privileged classes; The image - lay - indirectly hints at the military environment as a place of its widespread (cf. lay a charge, mine, etc.) "¹.

And Vinogradov is right, because not only the approximate time of the occurrence of the phrase, but also its author is known. He was a certain guard Colonel Raevsky (not to be confused with the hero of the war of 1812 by Nikolai Raevsky). So he was described by the poet, publicist and statesman P. A. Vyazemsky: “He was Krasnobai and Balagur; In some respects, a linguist was, at least enriched the guards language with many new words and expressions that were long in use and in general use, for example: skiping a tie, a little sub-shoe (Chauffé), Frambois (framboise-“raspberry”) and pr. All this, by his word, meant that a person drank excessly ”².

In the “Old Notebook”, Vyazemsky describes the events of the beginning of the 19th century, and therefore, an expression of about 200 years. The academician of Vinogradov collected the history of words in the middle of the 20th century, and, apparently, at that moment the phrase began to be used more often in the working environment, so the collar was gradually occupied by the tie in this phrase. One of the examples of use can be found In the verses of V. Vysotsky: “An honest Greek swam along the river of life // and drowned, or maybe the cancer overtook. // The Greek laid a man - // and the Greek laid behind the collar. "

¹. Vinogradov V.V. The history of words: about 1,500 words and expressions and more than 5000 words related to them / Otv. Ed. N. Yu. Shvedova. M.: Pereto, 1994.
². Vyazemsky P. A. Old notebook. Drawing up, article and commentary to L. Ya. Ginzburg. L.: Publishing House of Writers in Leningrad, 1927.

Image: open sources on the Internet