"tight as a tick"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Google shows that "tight as a tick" was also used to describe the Bush-Kerry race.

In a possibly related development, I recommend the use of "SOTA" on this list to express "Sign of the Apocalypse."  There are now so many of them that we should save as much time in communicating as possible.

JL

Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: "tight as a tick"
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On Apr 10, 2005, at 9:51 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: "tight as a tick"
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Mike Evans, author of _American Prophecies_ and described as a
> "Mideast analyst" on Fox News, has just explained the nature of the
> relationship between Prime Minister Sharon and President Bush as
> follows :
>
> "These two are tight as a tick !"
>
> He meant they're "very friendly" - not "very drunk," which is what the
> phrase usually means.
>
> Google, however, shows that "tight as a tick" can emphasize virtually
> any idiomatic
> sense of "tight."
>
>
> JL
>

This looks like another "hypocorrection." For as far back as I can
remember, "tight," among other meanings, has meant both "friendly" and
"drunk," but "tight as a tick [filled to bursting with its victim's
blood]" has meant only "filled in like manner with alcoholic beverage,"
"drunk as a skunk." I wonder whether the hand gesture corresponding to
"very close friends" will also be affected.

-Wilson

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