tight as a tick

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:34 AM -0600 12/20/07, Darla Wells wrote:
>I was watching the news last night and saw that Katie Couric described the
>South Carolina presidential race between Obama and Clinton as being "tight as
>a tick." I always understood the expression to mean that someone had had too
>much to drink. Interesting implications if it means what I was taught...
>Darla
>

This seems like the same kind of polysemic transfer found elsewhere
in the use of these fixed similes.  "High as a kite", for example, is
used both for chemical-free elation and, well, the other kind. Cf.
also "queer as a three-dollar bill".

LH

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