He thought it was strange that I said tie me over because he has always heard/said tide me over. When he mentioned the difference, I instantly went into ridicule mode. TIDE me over? What is that supposed to mean? But then I started thinking about it and tie doesn't really sound all that much better...and I suppose I had heard tide now and then...so we started doing some google research (if only I had access to the OED, I'd try that too). We found that:
- Tie me over has 10,300,000 hits while tide me over has 2,710,000 hits (not that this is scientific or proves anything, but ole' Dr. Robertson used it in every class to explain such and such an idea).
- There are loads of sites that mock the use of tie and support the use of tide.
- Many sites agree that tie me over is a colloquialism and therefore wrong (which I have a problem with).
The idea is that of the swelling tide, which will carry you over some obstacle, with the implication that it won’t require effort on your part. It may be that it’s a deliberate echo of Brutus’s comment, in Julius Caesar: “There is a Tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the Flood, leads on to Fortune”, or it may at least be taken from the same idea of a ship, say, waiting for the tide to rise and carry it over the bar into a harbour.
Now I'm not sure I buy the part about a swelling tide...but he makes an interesting point. So what do you say? And I'm wondering if this is regional or age-related or random or some other variable. Post a comment and answer the survey (and send others my way. I need a bigger sample group!), please!
17 comments:
tide. absolutely tide.
Roll Tide.
DC native casting an emphatic vote for tide.
I say tide... and I have an OED... so you can borrow it. :)
I would have said tide.
It was fun to learn the idea of the swelling tide. I never had thought too hard about the phrase.
Definately after thinking about what I say, it is tie. Must be a NY thing.
It's tide.
Tide.
Tide. I have never even heard someone say tie. Neither has Jamieson. We are from Iowa and California....in case you forgot.
I'm starting to wonder if this is just me, my family, and a handful of other renegades.
But that doesn't mean I'm going to switch to tide!
Uh...tie DEFINITELY....I've NEVER heard ANYONE say TIDE me over...thats weird....
Cn agrees, it is tide. Tie me over? Silly.
Fautie says tide me over. And I see my children never paid attention to me because I always say tide. And I must not listen to my wife because she says it is tie and I always thought she said tide.
I say Tide. I said it to myself several times, yup, Tide
I always say tie, i don't think I've ever heard tied, but judging by the responses here that may just be me not hearing right and assuming they are saying tie. BTW, I'm from Utah.
It's tide. Has been since the 14th century. Tie is a lazy Americanism. If you know the word tide, as in rising and falling water, it makes sense that sailors would talk about using the tide to get over an obstacle. Tie makes no sense. I'm going to tie myself up to get over something?
Actually, Laura, I believe it has nothing to do with being a lazy Americanism and everything to do with natural language progression.
Post a Comment