{"id":10179,"date":"2022-11-02T20:18:50","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T20:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=10179"},"modified":"2022-11-02T20:18:50","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T20:18:50","slug":"saved-by-the-bell-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/saved-by-the-bell-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Saved by the Bell \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Would you like to indicate that something has happened just at the right time, or that someone has been saved from an awkward or uncomfortable event? The phrase 'saved by the bell' is a common figurative English phrase that can be used to say just this. This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this saying.<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p>The phrase 'saved by the bell' is a common figurative expresson that is mostly used in the English language.<\/p>\n<p>'Saved by the bell' is usually used to indicate that someone has been saved from an awkward situation (implied by something that is said in the conversation).<\/p>\n<p>When someone says 'saved by the bell' it can also mean that someone has found an appropriate exit from a situation at just the right time \u2013 usually an implication of awkwardness.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase 'saved by the bell' can be used as a statement, or expressed as a response to something that another speaker has said.<\/p>\n<p>Context of the phrase is usually specified by the rest of the discussion, or made apparent by the speaker in the conversation.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes the phrase 'saved by the bell' can be used in the negative form to indicate that someone has 'not been saved by the bell' \u2013 or that the opposite meaning of the regular phrase is true.<\/p>\n<p>There are several similar phrases that are used in the English language, including to say that something has happened (or not happened) 'in the nick of time'.<\/p>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI was just about to take my pants off when the doorbell rang, because her husband showed up and he had forgotten his keys. Talk about being saved by the bell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got out of the place about five minutes before the parknig garage collapsed. I only left because I had to check a Twitter notification. We were literally saved by the bell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI'm not going to have this fight with you. In fact, saved by the bell. I'm going to go take this phone call on the roof instead,\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSaved by the bell. I'm going to answer the phone, and if it's a lawyer I'm going to get my grandmother's inheritance and move to Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>According to most online language resources, the origin of the phrase 'saved by the bell' can be found in the sport of boxing \u2013 and the phrase is likely to have entered common speech in the 19th century at the time when boxing was at its most popular height.<\/p>\n<p>When the beginning or end of a round is signalled, the ringing of a bell is the sign that the audience and boxers wait for.<\/p>\n<p>When a fight has been too much for a boxer, they can be literally 'saved by the bell' in the context of a match.<\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Saved By the Bell<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In the nick of time<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Saved By the Bell<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>N\/a<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Saved by the bell<\/li>\n<li>[They were] saved by the bell<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Saved By the Bell Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>There are several ways in which someone can say the phrase 'saved by the bell' in the wrong way, or misunderstand the meaning of the expression when it is applied.<\/p>\n<p>Someone can misunderstand the phrase for literal when it is not, or sometimes the other way around in rare uses of the phrase.<\/p>\n<p>Someone can also erroneously say 'saved by the bells' instead, which is incorrect.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Saved By the Bell<\/h2>\n<p>There are several correct ways in which someone can use the phrase 'saved by the bell', including to use the phrase to imply that someone has been saved from an awkward or inopportune situation by something \u2013 which is implied, though is not always literally in the form of a bell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Would you like to indicate that something has happened just at the right time, or that someone has been saved from an awkward or uncomfortable event? The phrase 'saved by the bell' is a common figurative English phrase that can be used to say just this. This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10179"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10179"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10181,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10179\/revisions\/10181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}