Not a dry tear in the room

This mixes “not a dry eye” (everyone crying from something emotional) and possibly “not shed a tear”(not showing emotion even though something is sad).  “Move to tears” and “end in tears” also could be in play here.  Of course, the speaker is thinking crying so naturally the word “tears” wells up in his mind.    A big thank you to Vic for sharing this.  It was spoken by a friend that was in charge of the sound board during the 60^th birthday celebration of his pastor’s wife.