Seven bells.

Question

"A few days ago there was a report in the news that some good citizen had hammered seven bells out of a 'prominent citizen' outside the High Court."
This pretty obviously means "beaten the crap out of", but why seven bells? Why not eight?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]"A few days ago there was a report in the news that some good citizen had hammered seven bells out of a 'prominent citizen' outside the High Court." This pretty obviously means "beaten the **** out of", but why seven bells? Why not eight?[/nq]
http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/4761.html To Knock Seven Bells out of a Man
An old naval expression for the giving of a sound thrashing (the nautical equivalent of "Knocking a man for six"); presumably to knock all eight bells out of a man would be to kill him!
http://www.yacht-volant.org/SailorTalk/seaterms13.html has a discussion about bells.
http://www.msu.edu/~carillon/batmbook/glossary.htm#PEAL PEAL:
A group of different-sized bells, usually from two to six, located in a belfry of the Christian church and rung according to the liturgical calendar and on other special occasions. Each bell of the peal swings at its own rate, thus producing an ensemble of disorganized sound. This ringing is referred to as pealing. In the British Isles, peal refers to 5,040 "changes" rung in continuous succession (See Change ringing) on a "ring" of bells. Seven bells or more permit this number of changes; if the ring contains fewer than seven, a peal will consist of the maximum number of changes possible on that number.

A couple of sites offered that breakfast on the old sailing vessels was either served or announced "at seven bells". Perhaps knocking seven bells out of someone is equivalent to knocking the breakfast out of someone. Ever had stuffing for breakfast? Or maybe it's related to "daylights." "Seven bells" is a common enough term that it probably just sounded good as an expression, and thus caught on.
MG

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]"A few days ago there was a report in the ... **** out of", but why seven bells? Why not eight?[/nq]
[nq:1]http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/4761.html To Knock Seven Bells out of a Man An old naval expression for the giving of a sound thrashing (thenautical equivalent of "Knocking a man for six"); presumably to knock all eightbells out of a man would be to kill him![/nq]
Thank you.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]"A few days ago there was a report in the news that some good citizen had hammered seven bells out of a 'prominent citizen' outside the High Court." This pretty obviously means "beaten the **** out of", but why seven bells? Why not eight?[/nq]
Both explanations given elsewhere in this thread seem plausible to me. On the other hand, one also hears of "the living daylights" & even "the red, white, and blue Jesus" being beaten out of people, so perhaps plausibility is not required when one is in that mood.
Joe Fineman joe (Email Removed)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]"A few days ago there was a report in the ... **** out of", but why seven bells? Why not eight?[/nq]
[nq:1]Both explanations given elsewhere in this thread seem plausible to me. On the other hand, one also hears of "the ... and blue Jesus" being beaten out of people, so perhaps plausibility is not required when one is in that mood.[/nq]
And also "seven kinds of *****". If anyone knows of a website on which seven (or more) kinds of human ***** are taxonomized, I'd be deeply appreciative if they kept it to himself.
And then there's "whaling the *** out of ..."

John Dean
Oxford

Usenet · Answer

John Dean filted:
[nq:1]And also "seven kinds of *****". If anyone knows of a website on which seven (or more) kinds of human ***** are taxonomized, I'd be deeply appreciative if they kept it to himself.[/nq]
I won't post the link or any of its contents, but yes, such a site does exist..r

Seven bells.

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