Tight = drunk

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Tight" basically means "drunk," not "tipsy."  "A little tight," which seems to be throwing people off, means "a little drunk." "Kind of tight" means "kind of drunk."  "Tight as a tick," "...a drum," "...Dick's hat band," etc., mean "very drunk," not "very tipsy."

  If I say, "X came in tight," the degree of X's drunkenness goes unstated, but X is indeed "drunk."


  JL
Sarah Lang <slang at UCHICAGO.EDU> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Sarah Lang
Subject: Re: Tight = drunk
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Eh, I know them both and I'm 26 and from Edmonton, AB (though that is
the "Texas of the North" ;) ).

S.

On May 1, 2007, at 1:33 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: Tight = drunk
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> I've known "tight" for "drunk" as well as "tight [i.e. filled to
> bursting with its host's blood] as a tick" for "drunk as a skunk"
> since childhood - early '40's - and I'm a native of a dry county in
> East Texas. Maybe this is dying out and younger people don't learn it.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On 5/1/07, Your Name wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Your Name
>> Subject: Tight = drunk
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ----------
>>
>> A friend in Texas says she has never heard "tight" used as a
>> euphemism for
>> "drunk." Here in upstate NY it's quite common. Is the
>> expression really that
>> regional?
>>
>> Rosemarie
>>
>> The people who are late are often so much jollier than the people
>> who have
>> to wait for them. - E.V. Lucas
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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