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  • Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Adjective Phrase number 36.

  • The adjective phrase today is tight-lipped. Okay. Let's look at the note

  • here. If a person is tight-lipped he or she is unwilling to speak about

  • something. Someone could also be tight-lipped by making a facial

  • expression in which one's lips are pressed very tightly usually done to

  • hold in or suppress anger. Like mmm They are really really angry, they want to let it

  • out. But they're trying to keep their lips closed like mmm you know, when they're

  • trying to hold it in. Okay. Good. So let's continue. The origin of this phrase dates

  • all the way back to the 16th century. At that time, if someone was tight with

  • money and we could still say that today that somebody's tight with money they're

  • unwilling to spend it. He or she was unwilling to spend it. This is also

  • related to the expression today of tightwad. Yeah. We do use tightwad today. I

  • mean that's a person who we think of as cheap. But they do have money. They

  • probably have like a wad of money in their pocket. You know, a wad is when you

  • have like you know, I don't know 30 or 40 bills all in a pile together. That would

  • be like a wad. So a tightwad they have money. But they are tight. They, they don't want

  • to take any of those bills out. Okay. Good. All right. So let's, let's continue here.

  • Over time, the phrase of tight lipped passed on to those who are unwilling to

  • speak. So first people said that one was tight with one's lips and it evolved

  • into tight lipped. So, so it came directly from like somebody being tight with

  • money as well. All right. Good. And we just have you know,

  • several examples here. Well. Let's look at the first one.

  • Many people are tight-lipped if if you ask them how much money they make. . Yes. Or

  • how much money they earn. A lot of people will suddenly become

  • tight-lipped. They don't want to talk about that. Or number two here you could

  • say I know Jesse is dating someone again but when I asked her about about it , she

  • seemed to be very tight-lipped. I wonder who it could be ? You know, now it makes it

  • more mysterious. Maybe you want to know more. Oh she's not telling me. I wonder

  • who could this be? All right. Anyway number three here. You could tell Sarah was

  • angry. She had a tight-lipped expression on her face. All right. So this one has to

  • do with the you know, pressing your lips together meaning. Okay. Good. And the last one

  • here. Number four. The movie studio was tight-lipped about the plot. They don't

  • want to say anything until the premiere. Until at least it's shown for the first

  • time. You know, by that time everyone will know of course. But they didn't want to

  • let the plot out well before time. They were tight-lipped about it. Okay. Anyway I hope

  • you got it. I hope it was clear. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.

Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Adjective Phrase number 36.

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