You may notice in the tags of this post that one says “the beer ran down my mustache.” While I do have a bit of a mustache (hell yeah to Ashkenazi heritage combined with my decision to remove body hair as little as possible) and while I am not always the neatest drinker of beer, that’s not what the tag is about. It’s a common closing formula in Russian wonder tales, where the teller, upon finishing some grand love story, will say: I was at their wedding and drank beer. The beer ran along my mustache but did not go into my mouth. The most familiar English-language formula is Once upon a time, but I’m not interested in battling Disney SEO and it’s far less evocative of food, drink, and the role they have in celebrations and in stories.
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