Why Do They Keep Saying 'Clock Tick' in Wicked: For Good?

"How many clock ticks are in Wicked: For Good? At a run time of two hours and 17 minutes, there are technically 8,220. But that's not what you actually want to know. As for how many times the characters actually say the phrase clock tick, as a way of saying "one sec," in Wicked: For Good? I clocked five clock ticks. At first, spoken mostly by Glinda, it just sounds like another goofy Oz-ism, like "obsessulated" or "thrillifying.""

"But why do they keep saying "clock tick"? Were the Wicked characters' clocks born ticking, or did they have clock tick thrust upon them? I have a theory, and I'm sorry in advance about it. Something you need to know about the Broadway musical Wicked is that it is aesthetically and conceptually, for better or for worse, very steampunk. There are gears and cogs and tiny little glasses and top hats throughout."

Wicked: For Good has a literal runtime count of 8,220 clock ticks for two hours and 17 minutes, but characters utter the phrase 'clock tick' roughly five times as a colloquial 'one sec.' The usage begins mostly with Glinda and appears elsewhere — Nessa, a Munchkin servant, and a deflating Elphaba moment — and echoes a brief line from the first film by Dulcibear. The phrase becomes pervasive across the sequel, sparking mixed fan reactions on social media. The Broadway show's steampunk aesthetic — gears, cogs, tiny glasses, top hats, and the Wizard's inventions — helps explain the clock-inflected language.

Read at Vulture