Meaning of "back on the wagon"?

[pne]

In the recent episode of SinFest, Squigley says that he's "back on the wagon".

What's the significance of this phrase? I take it it's got something to do with drinking alcohol?

Comments

[marikochan.livejournal.com]

Generally yes -- "on the wagon" means not drinking alcohol, and I think also avoiding smoking or other similar behaviors (trying to analyze it makes me think too hard so I can't trust my instincts! Grahh!) -- maybe originally from "on the bandwagon," which means going along with the crowd?

I assume in this case Tatsuya intended it as a sort of pun, though, since he's getting onto a literal wagon...

[sjcarpediem.livejournal.com]

"On the wagon" is "recovering from alcohol addiction", when you "fall off the wagon", you've gone back to alcohol. If you're "back on the wagon", you're trying to sober up, again.

[liv]

I believe in late 19^th or early 20^th America, (but not during the Prohibition, obviously) there was a Temperance organization that used to go round towns preaching an anti-alcohol message (I think there was Christian content as well). And they had a wagon to carry all their stuff, I guess. So if you were 'on the wagon' it meant you'd taken their pledge to stop drinking.

That's off the top of my head, so you might want to look for a more reliable source.