Home / Series / Mental Floss: List Show / Aired Order / Season 2023 / Episode 5

8 Widely Repeated Phrase Origins, Debunked

Some sources say that being "saved the bell" was originally a reference to people prematurely declared dead. Or that "dead ringers" were once people prematurely declared dead. Or that wakes were designed to ... you know what? Let's just say there are a lot of erroneous stories related to people being prematurely declared dead. In this episode of The List Show, Erin debunks popular (but incorrect) origin stories for popular expressions, from "bring home the bacon" to "raining cats and dogs."

English
  • Originally Aired February 15, 2023
  • Runtime 10 minutes
  • Production Code 1ta8ZnaFVCo
  • Network YouTube
  • Created February 16, 2023 by
    shriek
  • Modified February 16, 2023 by
    shriek