Fruit Machine Chat

Indeed, but the show's title was a mere pun. 'Saved by the bell' is an expression that is much older...

Is it boxing? Where a fighter gets counted to 9 and the bell goes so he is not knocked out?

good long quiz there DZ LOL

Not boxing I'm afraid. Goes back a looong way this one.

Only a guess but maybe if it is a wedding and the bells were going you didn't have to marry a witch?

no, but it's related to another reason in which you might visit a church.

Being offered sanctuary from pursuit? If you heard the bells and headed towards where they were coming from?

Nope, more commonplace. The expression is from old times, the reason you might visit a church (and neighbouring acreage) still happens today and will never cease.

Is it to do with death? You've been 'saved' when you are 'taken from this earth'. A Death Nell / Toll...?

That's a guess based on you saying it will never cease...

Or maybe they rang a bell just before they put you in the ground to make sure you were dead. If you woke up and escaped the coffiny doom, then you'd have been saved by the bell.

Not very plausible, but you never know.

I've an idea it's what the cardinal said, there or there abouts anyway.

It is indeed very plausible and you're so close I'll give you that.

We're looking at the time of the plague, when coma's were difficult things to diagnose! Some people would fall in to a coma only to awake two or three days later - although they would appear dead to the world. They would be left for a couple of days to see if they did come round at all. Anyone wondered why we had funeral wakes??

If the person hadn't awoken after the wake period they would be buried with a string around their wrists which was connected to a bell above ground - hence 'saved by the bell'. Of course, someone would have to listen out for any bells ringing and check that they weren't being swayed by the wind, so often someone would patrol the graveyard at night. it wasn't a pleasant time to be up and about so the expression 'graveyard shift' was born.

Anyway, after all that cardinal richelieu has the next honours.

Cheers Demmerz, my good man.

Right, song lyrics for you. Which song ends with the line...

"These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard,
And there may be many others but they haven't been discarvard"


And another bonus point for the artist.

Artist? Can't remember. But it's a song that includes all of the chemical elements sung by an american bloke. I have it on a comedy cd

same as Dz, i know the song and somewhere in the festering reaches of my foetid mind i know the artist too