i used this expression today and i got stuck trying to explain what the meaning of it is. i mean it means you'll be waiting eagerly but... why bells specifically? what's the source of that expression? i wonder. ???

Another expression is that "Your wait till the cows come home". I wonder is it to do with the sound of the Cowbells?

I always say 'with bells on'.


i'm sure you look better in them.

Why do they call the "penthouse" the "penthouse"

With bells on...

Thomas contributes: To be somewhere with "bells on" refers to a practice peddlers had when they roamed the area west of the Appalachians selling wares. To avoid Indians, they traveled as silently as possible until they reached a settled area. Then they unmuffled bells hung around their horses necks to announce their arrival to outlying cabins. Hence, "I'll be there with bells on." The peddlers' arrival was a much anticipated major event in the mostly tedious and hard lives of settlers, not only for the goods they sold, but also for the news, letters, and messages they carried from the outside world.


http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/meanings.htm


A very interesting site.


Cat

With bells on...

Thomas contributes: To be somewhere with "bells on" refers to a practice peddlers had when they roamed the area west of the Appalachians selling wares. To avoid Indians, they traveled as silently as possible until they reached a settled area. Then they unmuffled bells hung around their horses necks to announce their arrival to outlying cabins. Hence, "I'll be there with bells on." The peddlers' arrival was a much anticipated major event in the mostly tedious and hard lives of settlers, not only for the goods they sold, but also for the news, letters, and messages they carried from the outside world.


http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/meanings.htm


A very interesting site.


Cat
karma +1

With bells on...

Thomas contributes: To be somewhere with "bells on" refers to a practice peddlers had when they roamed the area west of the Appalachians selling wares. To avoid Indians, they traveled as silently as possible until they reached a settled area. Then they unmuffled bells hung around their horses necks to announce their arrival to outlying cabins. Hence, "I'll be there with bells on." The peddlers' arrival was a much anticipated major event in the mostly tedious and hard lives of settlers, not only for the goods they sold, but also for the news, letters, and messages they carried from the outside world.


http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/meanings.htm


A very interesting site.


Cat
Ding Dong!!

Ding Dong!!



Avon calling?  :D ;D ;D



Cat

Avon calling?   :D ;D ;D



Cat
For whom the bells toll?

For whom the bells toll?


For whom the bell tolls

“No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Manor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”

(MEDITATION XVII., Devotions upon Emergent Occasions by John Donne)

I often use that expression as well.  It's like hard not to say it sometimes ;D

Here's some expressions that I am guilty of sometimes saying ...

"i bought it for a song"
"i'm jonesing for _____"
"chomping at the bit"

"chomping at the bit"




That is one of mine    :)

  Waiting with Belzon?  Who's Belzon?  The main villain from Battlestar Galactica..?

 

believe it or not, i think it's supposed to actually be "champing at the bit."

Or how about "You're dressed like 2 Pigs In A Blanket"?  ;D

  Having one's work "cut out for them..."

"Hungry Like The Wolf".

believe it or not, i think it's supposed to actually be "champing at the bit."


I have heard it both ways

"ringing in my ears".