With Bells On

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, Martha and Grant. This is Ryan McHale calling from Linkit-Ani, the land of the Tlingit in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Hi, Ryan. How are you doing?

Hi, Ryan.

Doing good. I have a question because I work as a curator of exhibits at Ketchikan Museum, and we recently had an exhibit opening.

And when I was sending out personal invites, I had two people respond that they were going to arrive dressed in bells.

And after I got over the shock of thinking that they were actually going to come dressed in bells, I started to think about where that actually originated from and what it means.

Did they say, I’ll be there dressed in bells, or did they phrase it differently?

Yeah, what words did they use?

They texted back saying, I’ll be there dressed in bells.

And I’ve never heard that before.

Wow, that’s a new one on us.

Of course, the far more common expression is, I’ll be there with bells on, you know, meaning I’ll be there full of excitement and anticipation.

Or I’m going to be a really enthusiastic participant.

You know, I’m going to help make it festive and fun.

You wouldn’t say, I’ll be there with bells on if you’re, for example, going to a funeral or going to take the SAT or something.

Yeah.

Wow.

Do you know where that originates?

Well, there are lots of different hypotheses floating around, and it’s got a really murky past.

But I think the most reasonable explanation is that it has to do with putting bells on horses.

I mean, think about those Christmas songs we sing, you know, Jingle Bells and Bells on Bobtail Ring and Sleigh Bells Ring.

And I think it’s about making that activity even more festive than it already is.

Wow. That’s very interesting.

That’s the one that makes the most sense to me.

Grant, you and I have talked before about other stories, like maybe it has to do with the bells on a court jester’s hat.

But that really doesn’t have any evidence to back it up.

Yeah, that was the first thing that came to mind.

Bells on a costume or any kind of dress would be festive.

But the expression is relatively late in English’s history, long after such things were customary.

So it’s the late 1800s, 1890s or so.

And by that time, bells weren’t really common on costume.

Wow, that’s interesting.

But dressed in bills, that’s the phrase?

Dressed in bills?

Dressed in bills or with bells on?

Yeah, that’s interesting.

Yeah, with bells on.

That’s awesome.

Yeah, this is wonderful.

We love this report from Ketchikan.

And I hope you’ll listen for more instances of this and let us know if that happens.

Ryan, our man in Ketchikan, thank you very much.

I love listening to you guys.

Thank you so much.

Take care now.

Thanks.

Bye-bye.

All right, bye-bye.

What word or phrase has caught your ear lately?

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