# The tie that binds – meaning? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tie-that-binds-meaning/730525 "2015-09-10T16:00:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tie-that-binds-meaning/730525/21 "2018-09-20T11:29:56Z")
Good grief, I don’t even remember writing this OP, the ties obviously didn’t bind me very tightly to the topic. I still protest at it’s placing in Cafe Society, however. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tie-that-binds-meaning/730525/22 "2018-09-20T12:03:04Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Ah, but is that what Homer wrote, or is it an English idiom used by the translator to replace/translate the Greek one? Good point. The phrase “the tie that binds” instantly makes me think of the hymn, and I’ve always assumed that’s the origin of the phrase, and that other uses of it are direct or indirect allusions to that hymn. But I don’t know for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tie-that-binds-meaning/730525/23 "2018-09-20T16:32:27Z")
Footnoting the well(?)-known parody verse: _Blessed be the tie that binds My collar to my shirt. I’m wasting no dollars, I’m buying new collars To hide that ring of dirt._ ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tie-that-binds-meaning/730525/24 "2018-09-20T17:05:19Z")
The ties that bind us together are the common experience, the shared values, our beliefs, etc. that make our relationship with each other stronger. It’s not about bondage, slavery, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tie-that-binds-meaning/730525/25 "2018-09-20T17:22:18Z")
Springsteen has a song the Ties that Bind from his 1980 album the River [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/KHMIIKK8oMM/maxresdefault.jpg "Bruce Springsteen - The Ties That Bind (Live on SNL)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHMIIKK8oMM) ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tie-that-binds-meaning/730525/26 "2018-09-20T17:29:46Z")
Generally speaking, the “tie” is a commonality that bonds us together. In the hymn, specifically, the “tie” is Jesus Christ that binds all Christians in a bond of love. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tie-that-binds-meaning/730525/27 "2018-09-20T17:58:42Z")
I think it’s only because the hymn has a clumsy tune, or clumsy lyrics, that this sentence ever became “a thing”. The first words are “Blest be the tie that binds / Our hearts in Christian love” - but there’s a longer note on “binds”, and when inexperienced or uneducated singers find a longer note at the end of a line, they tend to pause, even if pausing messes up the meaning of the words. And if there’s a short note at a logical stopping spot, they probably won’t stop either, leading to “The Lord’s my shepherd I’ll not want”, having a quick note on “shepherd”, sounding like “I’m not going to want this shepherd, but I guess I’m going to have one anyway”. This song has them all over - probably the worst is the long note on “lie”, so that “He makes me down to lie in pastures green, he leadeth me the quiet waters by” ends up meaning “He makes me lie down for no reason. He leads me in green pastures. The quiet waters. Bye!” 🙂 So, “The tie that binds.” comes from church singers not paying attention. IMO. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tie-that-binds-meaning/730525/28 "2018-09-20T18:59:08Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > I think it’s only because the hymn has a clumsy tune, or clumsy lyrics, that this sentence ever became “a thing”. > > The first words are “Blest be the tie that binds / Our hearts in Christian love” - but there’s a longer note on “binds”, and when inexperienced or uneducated singers find a longer note at the end of a line, they tend to pause, even if pausing messes up the meaning of the words. That, and in my experience it’s typical for a hymnal to identify hymns by their first lines (rather than by some other title that isn’t just the first few words you sing). ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tie-that-binds-meaning/730525/29 "2018-09-20T19:08:31Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > That, and in my experience it’s typical for a hymnal to identify hymns by their first lines (rather than by some other title that isn’t just the first few words you sing). True, though there is that 1970s-Catholic gem usually known as “On Eagles’ Wings” rather than “Yoo-hoo!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tie-that-binds-meaning/730525/30 "2018-09-20T19:15:41Z")
This thread is instructive. I always thought it was a negative thing. The “ties” - marriage, family, friends - can “bind” us - reduce freedom of movement, or freedom of choice. Like how you’re always stuck bailing your no-good brother out of jail, even though you’d rather let him rot. That’s how I always understood it. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tie-that-binds-meaning/730525/31 "2018-09-20T19:35:20Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > This thread is instructive. > > I always thought it was a negative thing. The “ties” - marriage, family, friends - can “bind” us - reduce freedom of movement, or freedom of choice. > > Like how you’re always stuck bailing your no-good brother out of jail, even though you’d rather let him rot. > > That’s how I always understood it. I think people long ago started borrowing the hymn words and using them ironically/sardonically/whatever term is right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tie-that-binds-meaning/730525.md?page=1)