# But, if you really hold me tight. . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476 "2012-12-19T01:49:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/21 "2012-12-19T04:53:18Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Sure, but I’m too practical to believe that the afterglow actually generates meaningful heat. 😃 Maybe this should go in General Questions, then. Does afterglow generate meaningful heat? We must find out FOR SCIENCE! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/22 "2012-12-19T05:09:48Z")
This just in: I went outside and no icy man bit at my nose. Will update as further metaphors reveal their nonliteralness. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/23 "2012-12-19T07:52:11Z")
Um … is there any reason why “hold me tight all the way home” should not literally mean _hold me tight (i.e., hug me) throughout the journey home_? That could be a reasonably effective way of staying warm. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/24 "2012-12-19T07:59:41Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I love that song, even though it has the lingering scent of date rape. Our very prurient and puritanical age has made something nasty out of what was sweet, comical, and good-humored when it was written. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/25 "2012-12-19T08:18:14Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I love that song, even though it has the lingering scent of date rape. Date rape smells like chloroform. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/26 "2012-12-19T11:10:01Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Our very prurient and puritanical age has made something nasty out of what was sweet, comical, and good-humored when it was written. I don’t think it has anything to do with either prurience or Puritanism, but I agree that it’s a different and sensitized age. I do still love the song, however, particularly if Dinah Shore is involved. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/27 "2012-12-19T11:22:17Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Our very prurient and puritanical age has made something nasty out of what was sweet, comical, and good-humored when it was written. This. And I might add, she doesn’t sound like she’s been drugged, yet at no time does she make any attempt to get up and leave. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/28 "2012-12-19T12:28:11Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > This. And I might add, she doesn’t sound like she’s been drugged “Say, what’s in this drink…?” Really? ---
**Author:** ![bot3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@bot3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bot3)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/29 "2012-12-19T12:41:57Z")
I’ll never listen to this song again without thinking of how it was twisted into something its not. Thanks, dopers. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/30 "2012-12-19T12:43:11Z")
> [@bot3](#): > > I’ll never listen to this song again without thinking of how it was twisted into something its not. Thanks, dopers. Now you can hear this song and think of Bonnie Tyler. That’s so much better! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/31 "2012-12-19T13:47:13Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > “Say, what’s in this drink…?” > > Really? :rolleyes: Is her speech slurred? Is she slumping down in her seat? Is she fighting to keep her eyes open? Is she snoring? Is she spilling the drink? Does she remain in her seat because she’s unable to stand up? Does she ask him to help her get home, because she’s too stoned to walk or hail a taxi? ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/32 "2012-12-19T15:51:02Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > For Christ’s sake, will people please give SOME explanation of what they’re on about in the post? Please? Calm down dear, it’s the lyrics to a [song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-10fWHdpmks) with a porno twist (in the OP). ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/33 "2012-12-19T16:14:24Z")
> [@bot3](#): > > I’ll never listen to this song again without thinking of how it was twisted into something its not. Thanks, dopers. Yeah, because the date rapeyness of Baby, It’s Cold Outside is something dopers came up with. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/34 "2012-12-19T16:30:38Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > **hrhomer** ’s post made perfect sense. The OP makes no fucking sense, to me at least, not being familiar with the song/commercial/whatever-the-hell the quote is from. That you figured out that it was a quote from something is better than **hrhomer** did. Part of the fun of these types of threads is in not telling you where the quote is from, and seeing if you get it. And, yeah, while the song is entirely full of flirting and innuendo, it doesn’t go _quite_ that far. Though my little-kid mind boggled when it finally figured out what the guy wanted to do with the lights “turned way down low.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/35 "2012-12-19T17:56:42Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Um … is there any reason why “hold me tight all the way home” should not literally mean _hold me tight (i.e., hug me) throughout the journey home_? That could be a reasonably effective way of staying warm. Yes, the song seems to imply the guy will be walking home alone. Now, the fire is slowly dying. But, my dear, we’re still goodbye-ing. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/36 "2012-12-19T18:18:01Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Though my little-kid mind boggled when it finally figured out what the guy wanted to do with the lights “turned way down low.” Why, he wanted to pop some corn, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/37 "2012-12-19T19:00:07Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > :rolleyes: Is her speech slurred? Is she slumping down in her seat? Is she fighting to keep her eyes open? Is she snoring? Is she spilling the drink? Does she remain in her seat because she’s unable to stand up? Does she ask him to help her get home, because she’s too stoned to walk or hail a taxi? Oh no, you rolled your eyes! Even though I said it had a lingering scent and an overwhelming stench, I feel chastised! Please replace ‘date rape’ with ‘sexually predatory behavior’. Thank you. > [@bot3](#): > > I’ll never listen to this song again without thinking of how it was twisted into something its not. Thanks, dopers. > [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Yeah, because the date rapeyness of Baby, It’s Cold Outside is something dopers came up with. Indeed, in fact I googled the lyrics this morning, and on the first page of hits this exact topic came up. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/38 "2012-12-19T19:04:26Z")
Every time I hear “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” it seems obvious to me that the man is her boss, married to someone else, and her cousin. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/39 "2012-12-19T20:09:45Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Oh no, you rolled your eyes! Even though I said it had a lingering scent and an overwhelming stench, I feel chastised! Please replace ‘date rape’ with ‘sexually predatory behavior’. Thank you. 😃 You obviously care a lot more about this than I do. But would it make you feel better if the genders were reversed? Or same-sex? ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476/40 "2012-12-19T21:22:44Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Our very prurient and puritanical age has made something nasty out of what was sweet, comical, and good-humored when it was written. I don’t think that interpretation is new, I think the difference is that we no longer find date rape sweet, comical, and good-humored. That said, the lyrics allow for the interpretation that her fighting him off was merely _pro forma_. And “Let it Snow” is really pretty much the same thing without possible hints of rape. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/but-if-you-really-hold-me-tight/644476.md?page=3)