# Jingle Bells Revisited **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2002, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801 "2002-09-27T01:50:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RLEMONS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@RLEMONS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RLEMONS)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801/1 "2002-09-27T01:50:13Z")
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: ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801/2 "2002-09-27T02:13:45Z")
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…” ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801/3 "2002-09-27T05:10:33Z")
It is most unlikely to be the name of the horse because later in the lyrics we get : “The horse was lean and lank; Misfortune seemed his lot” and “Just get a bob-tailed bay two-forty as his speed Hitch him to an open sleigh And crack! you’ll take the lead.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801/4 "2002-09-27T10:58:35Z")
Off to Cafe Society. **DrMatrix** - General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801/5 "2002-09-27T12:12:46Z")
This Jingle Belle? [http://www.jinglebelle.com/](http://www.jinglebelle.com/) Santa’s juvie disgrace? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801/6 "2002-09-27T12:13:54Z")
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](http://www.roadsideamerica.com) ) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801/7 "2002-09-27T12:21:19Z")
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](http://www.roadsideamerica.com) ) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801/8 "2002-09-27T16:22:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > **Bear in mind that just because it’s in Trivial Pursuit doesn’t make it gospel.** 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. ---
**Author:** ![RLEMONS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@RLEMONS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RLEMONS)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2002, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801/9 "2002-09-27T23:43:24Z")
I know it’s Cecil’s Job thus the post. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801/10 "2002-09-30T19:53:52Z")
And I was being facetious. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801/11 "2002-09-30T23:08:03Z")
I get a kick out of the fact that the country’s most popular “Christmas carol” is not a carol and contains no reference to Christmas. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2002, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801/12 "2002-10-01T01:11:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Neidhart \* > \*\*I get a kick out of the fact that the country’s most popular “Christmas carol” is not a carol and contains no reference to Christmas. 😃 \*\* In fact, it was written for a Thanksgiving service. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2002, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jingle-bells-revisited/129801/13 "2002-10-01T13:35:07Z")
Really? I thought it was just a 19th-century popular song which somehow got “fossilized”.