2 questions

The 'tick' referred to in the first question, is a metaphor taken from clocks/watches. It actually asks, 'What motivates you?'.

The second refers to a socio-economic class, that is largely cut off from normal urban culture. It can consist of the rural poor, who cannot afford permanent housing, or transients who make no long-lasting investment in either their community or themselves. The 'trailer' image suggests both conditions, although there are many other aspects to that class.

1) "What makes you tick?" is a colloquial way of asking "What are your interests and/or motivations?" The metaphor is one of a ticking watch--whatever "makes you tick" is whatever causes you to do whatever you do.

2) "Trailer trash" refers to lower-class people, usually understood to be lower-class whites...the sort of people who sometimes live in trailers (a.k.a. "mobile homes," a.k.a. in Brit English "caravans"). The term can be either jocular or offensive depending on context and tone.

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>i always thought trailer trash was a really crappy trailer shown in a cinema.<hr></blockquote>that is utterly adorable.

It's a fairly recent (last 10 years?) incomer to UK English. What makes you tick, on the other hand, is somewhat idiosyncratic now -it's a while since I heard it.

"What makes you tick?" In today's world of suicide bombers, it's taken on a new meaning, hasn't it?

#5 Indeed, and what do you want to be when you blow up?

In Sanity We Trust

Crash course in trailer trash.

Ve haf vays of making you tock!

(& it IS language related, so that's alright then!)

Where I'm from (Michigan, U.S.) "What makes you tick?" means "What makes you angry?"--as in, "what makes you get feel full of anger like a ticking time bomb that is ready to explode". I've never come across it in the context of positive motivations! We also say "I'm ticked off" if we're angry.

I'm from Michigan too and I've never heard "what makes you tick" to mean what makes you angry. How old are you? I'm wondering if there is a derivation I'm too old for. I would use it as all the folks above. I'm ticked off, yes, to me that clearly means angry.