Liliputin-4886

To be saved by the bell is still too close for comfort ... "
Ronald Reagan

Liliputins. What, the heck, is this?
http://stihi.ru/2021/11/24/7101

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Saved by the bell
What's the meaning of the phrase 'Saved by the bell'?
Saved by a last minute intervention.

What's the origin of the phrase 'Saved by the bell'?
There is a widespread notion that 'saved by the bell' originated as an expression that relates to people being buried alive. The idea was that, if someone were comatose and mistakenly pronounced dead and interred, they could, if they later revived, ring a bell that was attached to the coffin and be saved. The idea is certainly plausible as the fear of being buried alive was and is real. Several prominent people expressed this fear when close to death themselves:

"Bell the Cat" Idiom: Mean...

"All I desire for my own burial is not to be buried alive." - Lord Chesterfield, 1769.

"Have me decently buried, but do not let my body be put into a vault in less than two days after I am dead." - deathbed request of George Washington.

"Swear to make them cut me open, so that I won't be buried alive."- Frederic Chopin's last words.

Just as real were the devices themselves, several of which were patented in England and in the USA. These were known as 'safety coffins' and designs were registered in the 19th century and up to as late as 1955; for example:

Safety coffin

The Improved Burial Case.
Patent No. 81,437 Franz Vester, Newark, New Jersey.
August 25, 1868.

As well as a handy bell, Vester's device had the novel enhancement of a glass screen to view the coffin's occupant. Presumably the mourners could wave to the deceased and, if he waved back, they knew they were on to something.

There's no evidence to show that anyone was ever saved by these coffins or even that they were ever put to use, and there's a similar lack of evidence of the phrase 'saved by the bell' ever being used in that sense prior to it having been used in other contexts.


In fact, the expression is boxing slang and it came into being in the latter half of the 19th century. A boxer who is in danger of losing a bout can be 'saved' from defeat by the respite signaled by bell that marks the end of a round. The earliest reference to this that I can find is in the Massachusetts newspaper The Fitchburg Daily Sentinel, February 1893:

"Martin Flaherty defeated Bobby Burns in 32 rounds by a complete knockout. Half a dozen times Flaherty was saved by the bell in the earlier rounds."

There are other popular etymological fallacies related to death - notably dead ringer and graveyard shift.

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too close for comfort
Also found in: Acronyms, Wikipedia.
too close for comfort
1. So physically close as to cause concern. Typically used of dangerous or unwelcome things.
The way these planes fly so low over the house is just too close for comfort.
My neighbors and I all feel that the new shopping center they're planning near our neighborhood is a little too close for comfort.
2. Too narrow a margin for error or deviation.
Having only $20 in your bank account is far too close for comfort, if you ask me.
See also: close, comfort, for
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
too close for comfort
Clich; [for a misfortune or a threat] to be dangerously close. That car nearly hit me! That was too close for comfort. When I was in the hospital, I nearly died from pneumonia. Believe me, that was too close for comfort.
See also: close, comfort, for
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
too close for comfort
Also, too close to home. Dangerously nearby or accurate, as in That last shot was too close for comfort, or Their attacks on the speaker hit too close to home, and he left in a huff.
See also: close, comfort, for
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
too close for comfort dangerously or uncomfortably near.
See also: close, comfort, for
too — for comfort causing physical or mental unease by an excess of the specified quality.
1994 Janice Galloway Foreign Parts They were all too at peace with themselves, too untroubled for comfort.
See also: comfort, for
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
too close for; comfort so near that you become afraid or anxious: The exams are getting a bit too close for comfort.
See also: close, comfort, for
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
See also:
rather close for comfort


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On March 30, 1981, Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. outside the Washington Hilton.  Although "right on the margin of death" upon arrival at George Washington University Hospital, Reagan underwent surgery and recovered quickly from a broken rib, a punctured lung, and internal bleeding. Professor J. David Woodard says that the assassination attempt "created a bond between him and the American people that was never really broken". Later, Reagan came to believe that God had spared his life "for a chosen mission".