siampolee
Detective
Alive alive O
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Post by siampolee on Aug 8, 2021 10:16:40 GMT 7
 A Dead Ringer – is a well-known phrase for somebody who looks just like another.
In medieval Britain the medical profession was not quite as refined as it is now, and often anybody found not to be breathing was regarded as dead, when they may have been simply unconscious. (And this was also before comas were fully understood).
It was not uncommon for bodies to be later exhumed and corpses found with their fingers worn to the bone, an obvious indication somebody had returned to life and tried to claw their way out of a coffin.
So horrific was this image that the English gentry began mistrusting medical opinions and buried their loved ones with string attached to their wrists, connected to a bell above the grave.
Anybody who returned to life and found themselves prematurely buried could attract attention by ringing the bell and it has been recorded this actually worked.
Many ‘bodies’ were exhumed after bells were rung and some people carried on with their normal lives.
But when spotted in the street startled acquaintances would cry to each other ‘That looks just like ‘Jack Jones’ – I thought he was dead’ to which they would receive the reply, ‘Yes, he must be a dead ringer’. 
The original graveyard shift was the job of the overnight guards in the quiet cemeteries who were on the look-out for grave robbers and any Dead Ringer(s}.
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AyG
Crazy Mango Extraordinaire
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Post by AyG on Aug 8, 2021 12:34:51 GMT 7
And now for the real explanation:
The expression "dead ringer" dates from 1891, so nothing to do with mediaeval Britain.
A "ringer" is a fast horse entered fraudulently in a race in place of a slow one, so "substitute" or "exchange".
"Dead" here means "complete" or "exactly". Consider the contemporary "dead right", "dead easy", or "dead set against". Also "dead reckoning".
Putting it together, a "dead ringer" is a complete substitute.
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siampolee
Detective
Alive alive O
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Post by siampolee on Aug 8, 2021 16:24:57 GMT 7
The phrase “dead ringer” is sometimes said to be referring to a person who was believed to be dead, and then buried in a casket which is rigged with a string and bell (in order to notify non-dead hearers above ground that the buried person is not dead at all); when he/she rings the bell they become “dead ringers.”
While it is true that during the Victorian Era, many caskets were built with these and other similar devices, the use of the word “ringer” developed into a much different meaning, as did the word “dead.”
Dead is a word that almost always brings to mind a ceasing of life in some form or another.
However, it can also mean precise or exact as in, “dead-on.” And ringer has an alternative archaic use that many might not be familiar with that originated in the US in the late 19th century. During this time in history, racing horses was all the rage and gambling along with it.
A ringer was a horse that looked exactly like a specific, favored racer that was deviously swapped with the real one in order to throw the betting. The word then continued to be used to refer to duplicates (usually in illegal activities). So then, “dead ringers” were not little tinkles made by prematurely buried persons.
Of course one also has ''ringers'' in the motor trade, usually used in defining vehicles that may have been built from assorted ''write-offs'' or somewhat ''interesting'' documents with regard to registration, history' and ownership(s)
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siampolee
Detective
Alive alive O
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Post by siampolee on Aug 8, 2021 16:30:32 GMT 7
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