Tick a Lock

 

Have you ever used this saying with an accompanying gesture “tick a lock”? My mother Ruth used many sayings. She often would use this one.

When she’d say this it was accompanied with the inclusion of the hand gesture by her mouth imitating the use of a key to turn a lock. Here is the meaning of tick a lock that I looked up:”“Tick a lock” (sometimes “tick-a-lock” or “tickalock”) means “to keep quiet” or “to keep a secret” (the equivalent of “zip it” or “put it in the vault” on Seinfeld). “Tick a lock” can thus be either a command (as Aunt Bee of Mayberry usually used it) or a promise not to tell a secret or say something unpleasant.”

The reason I bring this up is that I woke up to a chilly overcast morning. I looked out to the back yard and saw no sunshine on our grass. I thought “brrrr I’m cold!” Then I saw this picture my brother in law sent of his car covered in snow and I thought “ tick a lock” girl you don’t even know what cold is!”