Tight = drunk

[Wilson Gray]

"Tight as Dick's hatband"?! Whoa! Far out, man! That's one of my
mother's very favorite catch-phrases. I had no idea that it had
anything to do with drunkeness till this moment. She used it only to
describe something that was liiterally tight: "The skirt that that
young gal had on was as tight as Dick's hatband!" I've never heard it
or seen it used by anyone else, either in person or in print, before.
Till now, my basic impression had been that this was just some
otherwise-unknown, East-Texas piney-woods expression. You never know.

-Willson

On 5/1/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Tight = drunk
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "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:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Sarah Lang
> Subject: Re: Tight = drunk
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
> >> -----------------------
> >> 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
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ************************************** See what's free at http://
> >> www.aol.com.
> >>
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> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -----
> > -Sam'l Clemens
> > ------
> > The tongue has no bones, yet it breaks bones.
> >
> > Rumanian proverb
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens
------
The tongue has no bones, yet it breaks bones.

                                           Rumanian proverb

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org