tight as a tick

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

I would not find it odd to use this either in the sense "drunk," though the
sense of "tight" found in "tightwad" always seemed to me to make the most sense
(and, therefore, I assumed this to be the original sense). The use for "tight
race" sounds weird, but only because it makes less sense in terms of the
mental leap needed to make the connection--ticks are tight to the body (like a
miser and her money). Less probably, drunk people clutch furniture and lampposts
to stay erect. Ticks themselves do not seem particularly drunken.

Do people really say "tight" for drunk these days? Sounds rather
old-fashioned to me.

I'm more than a little surprise that Dennis Preston did not find the
parsimonious sense.

I agree with Larry that these similes quickly get extended beyond theirs. I'd
assume that "high as a kite" started with something more literal than
drunkenness, though just what I can't imagine.


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