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Reader question: Please explain “tighter ship” in this sentence: The new boss vows to run a tighter ship. My comments: The boss coming in is promising stricter control over the office, basically. For his subordinates, it means, among other things, discipline. Don’t you be late for work in the morning, that is. The company or other organization we’re talking about here has run into trouble. As a result, the old boss was fired and a new one was ushered in. He or she, the new boss, hopes tighter control over personnel and daily operations will make a difference, thus promising to tighten the ship? Tighten the ship? This originally means tighten up all the ropes on the ship. When you are ocean going and sailing on the high seas, tightened ropes means the sails, say, will remain tight and taut so that they catch the wind nicely. When you’re on a long voyage over the high seas, apparently you need everything tightened up, i.e. everybody being careful, vigilant and responsible, especially during rough times when there are gales, high waves or the like. If all the ropes are loose and all crew members going easy on their own, well, they may not be able to survive life on the high seas for long – they may never come back to shore again. Hence the phrase: “run a tight ship”. Originally the expression means the captain of the ship keeps a close eye on the crew to ensure nobody goes out of control. Nowadays, it is used widely. If they say someone runs a tight ship, they are talking about some high ranking official exercising firm control over a company or any other group or organization. | 
