# pull the other one, it's got bells on - Origins? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729 "2006-09-30T13:32:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/1 "2006-09-30T13:32:22Z")
I’ve been looking for the origins of this phrase. Orginally, I thought it was a Terry Pratchett invention (it sounds far to Ankh-Morporkian), but upon googling I find it’s rather much more widespread than that, and appears to pre-date Pratchett. I can’t, for the life of me, find the origins of this phrase, however. Does anyone have any idea? ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/2 "2006-09-30T14:42:57Z")
[QUOTE=Tabby\_Cat] I’ve been looking for the origins of this phrase. Orginally, I thought it was a Terry Pratchett invention (it sounds far to Ankh-Morporkian), but upon googling I find it’s rather much more widespread than that, and appears to pre-date Pratchett. I can’t, for the life of me, find the origins of this phrase, however. Does anyone have any idea? [/QUOTE] Definition only. “pull the other one (it’s got bells on)! Exclam. You are joking aren’t you? Used to express a suspicion that one is being tricked or teased. E.g.“I drove round the corner and there was a pink elephant in the middle of the road.” “Yeah sure, pull the other one!” {Informal}” copied from: [**Dictionary of Slang**](http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/p.htm) No source of origins, lots of posts in regards to. You have to assume it is of British origin but when is anybodys guess. Lost in the mists of time? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/3 "2006-09-30T14:52:02Z")
I asked this same question some years ago, and got some good answers. But I can’t find that thread via search. Basically the phrase in a more pure form is “pull the other leg, it’s got bells on”. The meaning is the person saying it thinks they’re having their leg pulled, or being thought of as a fool. The ‘fool’ aspect is emphasized by saying their other leg has bells on it, part of a jester’s traditional costume. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/4 "2006-09-30T15:18:08Z")
Michael Quinion, of [World Wide Words](http://www.worldwidewords.org/) , addressed this on the [Linguist List](http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0002d&L=ads-l&P=336). “It (pull the other one, etc) is indeed a well-known phrase in Britain, regarded as the full, or canonical, form of the expression. It brings to mind the court jester, complete with cap and bells. Nigel Rees, in his Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, says it is known from the 1960s, no doubt in reference to the earliest citations in the OED. Partridge’s Dictionary of Catch Phrases quotes Frank Shaw as saying it was known in the 1920s, but provides no firm evidence.” I can avouch from personal experience that it was current in England in the 60s. ---
**Author:** ![Meribast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8edcca/32.png) [@Meribast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meribast)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/5 "2018-03-11T01:35:44Z")
or the other leg with bells on is a person’s penis with testicles… ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/6 "2018-03-11T01:57:21Z")
If your testicles jingle when someone pulls your penis, then I suggest medical intervention. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/7 "2018-03-11T14:35:38Z")
> [@Meribast](#): > > or the other leg with bells on is a person’s penis with testicles… No, that’s “pull the other one, it has a bell-end” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/8 "2018-03-11T15:04:28Z")
Pull the other one, it’s Belinda Carlisle. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/9 "2018-03-11T15:32:27Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > I’ve been looking for the origins of this phrase. Orginally, I thought it was a Terry Pratchett invention (it sounds far to Ankh-Morporkian), Sir Pterry used the special variation Pull one of the other ones, it has got bells on it because the speaker is Gaspode, a dog = more than two legs. 🙂 (When William de Worde meets Gaspode as his informant without knowing he’s talking to a dog, this variant makes him think Gaspode must be a non-native speaker of Morpokian…) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/10 "2018-03-11T16:54:27Z")
I’m glad the jester angle was cleared up. I had always suspected it had something to do with Morris dancers. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/11 "2018-03-11T17:27:52Z")
Is there any earlier reference to the _complete_ version than 2016? > [@I Pit the ID-demanding GOP vote-suppressors (Part 1)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/10002): > > … > Pull the other leg, its got bells on it. Pull the middle one, I’ll give you a nickel. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/12 "2018-03-11T19:09:27Z")
I’ve always heard, and often said, “I’ll be there with bells on,” meaning you betcha I’m going, or you can’t miss me. Is that derivative? Or am I the only one who says that? For good measure, am I saying something which other people supposedly say “I’ll be there with my hair in a braid?” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/13 "2018-03-11T19:24:39Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I’ve always heard, and often said, “I’ll be there with bells on,” meaning you betcha I’m going, or you can’t miss me. Is that derivative? I’ve never heard that one, but “With knobs on” is a common English phrase meaning “even more so” ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pull-the-other-one-its-got-bells-on-origins/374729/14 "2018-03-12T19:58:53Z")
“I’ll be there with bells on,” according to my elementary school teachers, was a whole different story. We were taught about pioneer times in Indiana. Part of the lore, along with latch-strings and blab school, was the idea that draft horses were festooned with bells. If something broke on the wagon, and they needed help from somebody to fix it, the one who helped was thanked with a gift of some of the horse bells. If you arrived without any bells, it meant the wagon had broken down on the way. A couple years ago, I saw the judging of draft horse teams at the state fair. Most of the horses wore the traditional bells as they paraded around the State Fair Colosseum floor.