In tick and thin: One idiom, three errors

As simple as the idiom indicated here is supposed to be, it is usually mishandled in some three ways. Interestingly, because its meaning (i.e., in good times and bad times) echoes the uncertainty of life, it is a common saying. But there is the need to master its wording.

Tick or thick?

‘Tick’ and ‘thick’ are both valid words in English. But their meanings and uses are different. ‘Tick’, among other meanings, refers to a mark used to indicate that an item in a list or text is correct or has been verified while ‘thick’ means not thin or flat – rather having a large distance between two sides. In the context of the sweet-and-bitter-seasons idiom, the required term is ‘thick’, not tick. You should therefore always avoid mixing them up.  The expression is ‘thick and thin’.

Similarly, note that there is a difference between ‘ticket’ and ‘thicket’. Look up the words in the dictionary if you are not sure.

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Prepositional issue

The second issue with ‘in tick and thin’ is that the preposition that collocates with ‘thick and thin’ is ‘through’, not ‘in’. So, the structure is deficient in the way a lot of people put it, using ‘in’ with it. We say through thick and thin:

The Vice President remained with his boss in tick and thin. (Wrong)

The Vice President remained with his boss in thick and thin. (Wrong)

The Vice President remained with his boss through thick and thin. (Correct)

Mispronouncing ‘tick’

The third common error with the idiom is a carryover from the hall of the inadequacies that colour the spoken English of many users. In several instances, people don’t differentiate between the pronunciation of T and TH. As a result, whether or not they get right the spelling of ‘thick’, they still fail in the way they articulate it. They pronounce both words the same way, with ‘thick’ being the victim.

In this class, we have done a lot on the theta sound – as we have in three, throw, think, thought, earth, health, wealth, wrath, breath, moth, kith, thank, thrive etc. While pronouncing them, the ‘th’ letters should not be pronounced as T. They are not Tree, Trow, Tink, Tought earT etc. Rather they should sound as THree, THrow, THink, THought and earTH. That is why ‘thick’ should not be pronounced as Tick but THick.

To pronounce the TH sound – as we have in the listed words, which is different from what we have in the, that, this and those – the tip of the tongue tries to cruise past the upper and the lower lips, with a soft friction that produces the musical consonant. This is unlike what you have when T is being articulated, where the tip of the tongue contacts the upper teeth. Practise the pronunciations of T and TH with the aid of online videos.