The expression "to wind up on a mustache" means to remember, take note, take into account, it indicates the importance and usefulness of information. There are several versions of the origin of this phraseological unit.
Nodules and medications
In Ancient Russia, there was a special type of information storage - records were made in the form of knots tied on a thread. This memorization system was used to a greater extent by doctors - with the help of knots tied on a thread in a certain order, they wrote out prescriptions. Nodules meant a code that contained information when it was necessary to take a particular drug. In most cases, red thread was used to write out such prescriptions.
This method of storing information was also used in other countries, albeit with a slight difference - doctors specially used multi-colored threads to distinguish one medicine from another, knots were tied on each of them and worn in a bundle. They also tried to use woolen threads, because It was believed that wool improves blood circulation and thus promotes faster recovery.
In ancient Russia, such threads with knots were popularly called “nauz” and tied on the ankle or wrist, this activity was called “winding nauz”. Subsequently, ordinary people began to use this ancient method of memorization in everyday life and in trade. According to this version, the expression “wind on a mustache” was formed from the consonance of the name of the amulet with knots “nauza” with the word “mustache”, because the longer the mustache, the more knots can be made on them for memory and more to remember, so to speak, to wind wisdom for yourself.
And yet a mustache
According to the second version, the expression was formed directly from the word "mustache". This assumption includes several variants of the origin of the phrase "wind on a mustache". On the one hand, this phraseological unit was formed as a result of the adoption of a mustache as a symbol of experience, wisdom and maturity of a man, because they appear with age, and the older and more experienced a man is, the thicker and longer his mustache is. On the other hand, in pre-Petrine times, all men wore beards and many of them had a habit of fluttering it or twisting their mustaches nervously when they were thinking about something.
Their grumpy wives said to them, "Wrap yourself up!" meaning “remember,” “take note,” “don't forget,” and the next time a man reached for his mustache in thought, he immediately remembered what his wife had told him about and went to do it. In our time, few men wear beards, and even more so mustaches, so the roots of the expression "roll on your mustache" have sunk into oblivion. Now people are more accustomed to "put a cross for themselves" and, having seen it, immediately recall any important information.
