Can I ask a question?
What does " he’d be saved by the bell" ? I could not find its equivalent in my mother tongue.
Thanks.
Kati Svaby
If someone is ‘saved by the bell’ it means they have been ‘saved’ (from something like doing a task they did not wish to do) at the last minute, often because something has happened to interrupt matters.
It is an idiom from the sport of boxing, where a bell is rung to indicate the end of the round.
A boxer who is struggling to remain on his feet in the last few seconds of a round, and looks likely to be knocked out when his opponent attacks again may be considered to be ‘saved by the bell’ if the bell rings to mark the end of the round before his opponent can land the knockout punch. That boxer will then have the time in the break between rounds to recover enough to be able to fight on.
Nice to meet you again. I hope you are well. I have immediately understood your explanation, but it was a hard nut to crack, what is its Hungarian equivalent?
We say in the same situation that he has had the poppy. I looked it up in Hungarian dictionary and its English equivalent was: „(s)he is in luck fall/fell on one’s feet „.
I have never tried to find out why to say 'poppy '(mák)? This evening I got to know that it comes from the Yiddish word „mazel”, (luck) as „mazel” and „mák” is very similar sounds, that’s why people gave it a meaningful word "he/she has the ‘mák’ (poppy).
It was a little bit complicated to explain, but I hope you understood.
Thanks again.
I’m well enough, thank you Kati. I hope that you are well and that your husband’s health has also improved.
To ‘fall on one’s feet’ is slightly different in meaning to being ‘saved by the bell’.
Saved by the bell - to be rescued from danger or from a tricky/unwelcome situation just in time
Fall on one’s feet - to be lucky or successful after you have been in a difficult situation
It’s good to hear that you are well, Dear Bez. I am also rather well, and my husband’s health is the same as used to be, it hasn’t worsened, but it could not improve. This is the best, and doctors also respect him as they never thought that they could cope with this incurable illness for a long time. (He has a very serious COPD)
Thanks for the further explanation, it means that our saying with poppy would be good, but this Hungarian dictionary doesn’t know the expression "saved by the bell ". If I say that he had the big poppy that the referee could not count to ten as the match had been stopped, anyway he had been knocked out.(It means the same in Hungarian)
We use the other in the same meaning as you wrote.
I could not remember most of these idioms but when I’m reading I recognize them. It is a passive knowledge.