Phrases and Idioms: Tickets on Himself

To have tickets on himself:
(Australian slang.) To be conceited or vain. To have an overinflated opinion of oneself. 
He's got tickets on himself if he thinks that any woman would fall for that.


I was thinking about this particular bit of Australian slang the other day, after my boss said, "He's got tickets on himself," to describe the actions of a particular individual. At the time, I smiled, knowing exactly what the boss meant. Later on, I started to ponder on this unusual phrase and wondered where it might have come from.

A search on google helped me find the definition, but that was about all. There are no references to it being used in pop culture or literature (if you find one, let me know,) and at the time of writing this post, Tickets on Himself was not listed on Urban Dictionary. (I tried to add it, but the fuckers rejected my definition. They probably think I have tickets on myself or something for trying to add a relatively common piece of Australian slang to their exclusive and very well-researched database.) Anyway, I found some variants, such as Tickets on Myself or Tickets on Yourself and the far less common Tickets on Herself (which suggests the use of the term is predominantly or perhaps historically geared toward men). The word tickets itself has a number of meanings, most of them positive. Tickets can be used to mean a pass that gives entry or certain privileges, a pass that signifies ownership or a prize or a large price tag. There are a few negative connotations, such as a speeding ticket, however that hardly seems relevant to this particular expression. In this sense, we can say that someone who has tickets on themselves probably thinks that they have special privileges, are worth a high price or are prized in some way. Isn't that just the ticket?

Seriously, I'd love to know if you've seen this one used and where. As, as always, feel free to comment below ...

Comments

Anonymous said…
Ive certainly heard it used, I'm not sure about written, but here is one example in a newspaper article
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/costello-has-tickets-on-himself-says-wayne-swan/story-fn59niix-1226301352962
hey nice post meh, I love your style of blogging here on kathrynwhiteauthor.blogspot.com. It reminds me of an equally interesting blog on my reading list which is http://danieluyi.com.
keep up the good work meh and also, please visit my blog and drop a comment even if it's a simple "nice post" reply.

Regards
Kathryn White said…
Thank you for the link Shelleyrae! I think you're right the phrase is mostly something that we hear spoken, rather than see written.
Kathryn White said…
Thank you for the link, Daniel. I will visit your blog soon.
Simon Leach said…
https://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/andc/meanings-origins/t#:~:text=tickets%3A%20to%20have%20tickets%20on%20yourself

The evidence for this phrase dates from 1904. It became popular around the time of the First World War, and increasingly so into the 1920s and 30s. The original meaning of the word ticket is uncertain, but it probably refers to betting tickets (a person is so confident in their ability that they would bet on himself or herself).

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