I muffed up my first post on this so here it goes again
I know this is a little early, but there is a raging debate at my work. Is the reference to Bells on Bobtail ring in the famous song referring to the name of the horse or the Bobtail of the horse? Some trivia questions state that Bobtail is the actual name of the horse (i.e… the famous Trivia Pursuit game of the 80’s) and not the bobtail of the horse. Please if someone actually knows the straight dope on this, please replyst post on this so here it goes again :smack:
It’s not necessarily the name of the horse, like “Patches” or “Blackie”, it’s just kind of a generic slang term for “carriage horse”, although I suppose that somebody somewhere in the 19th century could have named an actual horse “Bobtail”. Bear in mind that just because it’s in Trivial Pursuit doesn’t make it gospel.
IMO the line means, “The bells on the [bobtailed] horse ring…”, not necessarily “The bells on the horse named Bobtail ring…”
Incidentally, there is a plaque in downtown Medford, Massachusetts (on the very block where I used to live) that says that Jingle Bells was inspired by the sleigh races held right there in downtown Medford. I don’t know if it;s true, but it’s plausible. (Medford also has the ashes of Jumbo the Elephant – see the relevant page at www.roadsideamerica.com )
Incidentally, there is a plaque in downtown Medford, Massachusetts (on the very block where I used to live) that says that Jingle Bells was inspired by the sleigh races held right there in downtown Medford. I don’t know if it;s true, but it’s plausible. (Medford also has the ashes of Jumbo the Elephant – see the relevant page at www.roadsideamerica.com )
Right. Not only has Trivial Pursuit had some accuracy problems, they’ve also had answers that would be true in one country but not in another. For example, a question regarding a James Bond movie about him stopping a drug lord had the British title as the answer. To sum up: a game is never the source for end-all be-all answers, that’s Cecil’s job.
