Where did saved by the bell take place?

Answer 1

In the sport of boxing a fight lasts for several rounds separated by a short interval for the fighters to rest and lick their wounds. The end of each round is announced by a bell so if you are in difficulty towards the end of a round then you will be saved by the bell because then your opponent must stop hitting you.

or

Buried alive. Anyone's worst nightmare. There was a strange disease in the 1500's that would slow one's heartbeat and breathing enough that upon inspection, the afflicted person would indeed seem quite dead. When England began to run out of room to bury recently deceased people, they dug up the coffins of people who had long been deceased, removing their bones from the coffins and placing them in a bone house and re-using the gravesite.

When opening the coffins of long ago buried bodies, they noticed that 1 out of every 25 coffins had scratch marks on the inside. The town folks had been burying people while they were still alive.

To avoid anymore people being buried alive, a string would be tied to the wrist of each corpse, threaded through the coffin,up through the ground, and tied to a bell.

Someone would have to sit in the graveyard all night and listen for the bell to ring, just in case the corpse was not really a corpse.

Hence the phrases: Saved by the bell, Dead ringer and Graveyard shift. This website casts doubt on whether the phrase was ever actually used in connection with burials. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/saved-by-the-bell.html

Answer 2

In the sport of boxing a fight lasts for several rounds separated by a short interval for the fighters to rest and lick their wounds. The end of each round is announced by a bell so if you are in difficulty towards the end of a round then you will be saved by the bell because then your opponent must stop hitting you.

or

Buried alive. Anyone's worst nightmare. There was a strange disease in the 1500's that would slow one's heartbeat and breathing enough that upon inspection, the afflicted person would indeed seem quite dead. When England began to run out of room to bury recently deceased people, they dug up the coffins of people who had long been deceased, removing their bones from the coffins and placing them in a bone house and re-using the gravesite.

When opening the coffins of long ago buried bodies, they noticed that 1 out of every 25 coffins had scratch marks on the inside. The town folks had been burying people while they were still alive.

To avoid anymore people being buried alive, a string would be tied to the wrist of each corpse, threaded through the coffin,up through the ground, and tied to a bell.

Someone would have to sit in the graveyard all night and listen for the bell to ring, just in case the corpse was not really a corpse.

Hence the phrases: Saved by the bell, Dead ringer and Graveyard shift. This website casts doubt on whether the phrase was ever actually used in connection with burials. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/saved-by-the-bell.html

Answer 3

"The expression "Saved by the bell" came from the Black plague time when they used to bury people not knowing whether they were really dead or not. If the person was still alive, they would ring a bell that was attached by a string, and the night guard would unbury them." I am not sure I buy this answer. I saw that it was used on an episode of CSI: New York, but this hardly justifies this explanation or supports the idea. I have seen another explanation on some sites that this arose from the early days of boxing in the U.S. where a boxer could be 'saved by the bell" from a pummeling by his opponent. This seems more plausible. One big problem I have with the notion that the phrase came from accidental burials is (a) lack of cited historical evidence that such burials were particularly common, and (b) the contraptions noted that were to save people from accidental burial were typically for the upper classes. Hard to imagine such a rare notion trickling into ordinary speech, but I would like to see further historical evidence (hard data) for where this phrase came from. Truth is there is no evidence that this phrase was ever used in the 17th century as you describe. It is simply a boxing term that started to be used in the late 1800's. Boxers who were at risk of losing a fight, could not be saved by the bell at the end of the round. Thus, if they we knocked down, the count would continue, even if the bell signalling the end of the round had sounded. This expression like many others came merry old England. After the cemeteries started filling up the British started constructing 'bone yards.' When this began and previously buried bodies were dug up, there was sometimes evidence that a person was buried alive. It could have been for a number of reasons, but this was to be avoided by having a wake where the body would usually sit on the dining table for a few days to make sure they were dead, and then the person assigned the 'grave yard shift' would listen for a bell tied to the toe of the supposed deceased, and if it rang, they were 'saved by the bell.'

Answer 4

It sounds like it might have originated in Boxing when a fighter who is getting badly beaten gains a respite when the bell for the end of the round rings.

I am actually thinking that it came from the plague days, some people were not dead, but they buried them anyway, if they came out of their commas a string was tied around their fingers if they woke up they would thug on the string and ring the bell, that is also where graveyard shift came from, cause someone had to be there to hear the bell...

Answer 5

• Just search Saved By the bell at the top

Answer 6

"Saved by the bell" was an early saying that originated during a boxing match. "Saved by the bell" means that a participant in the ring can no longer be hit because the round is over.

Answer 7

The early episodes take place in Indiana and the high school episodes in Los Angeles CA

Answer 8

"Saved by the bell" came about as a boxing term. When someone was in danger of loosing the match, but the bell rang before he was counted out, it was said he was saved by the bell.