Modul 4: Idiom 19: Ring a bell

Hi. Have you ever heard about Pavlov’s dog? Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who conducted a famous experiment – a test – with dogs.

Whenever he gave food to a dog, he rang a bell. Of yourse, food triggers – turns on – a reflex in a dog i.e. the dog starts salivating. Saliva is the liquid in your mouth. Salivation is the production of saliva. Dogs salivate over food, right? Okay.

So, whenever Pavlov gave food to a dog, he also rang a bell. This way, he built a direct connection between the food and the bell. Over time, the dog didn’t even need food to trigger salivation: the bell was enough for it. Why? Because of the direct link in the dog’s brain between the food and the bell. By the way, Ivan Pavlov was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in 1904.

Now look at our illustration

There’s a bell ringing, and a dog sitting opposite a person. Now, look at the dog’s though bubble. What’s the dog thinking of? Food! The bell reminds the dog of food: the dog is made to remember – it has to remember the food. The bell reminds the dog of food.

In English, there’s an idiom which goes like “ring a bell”. When something rings a bell, it sounds familiar: “Ah, I remember it!” or “Oh, I remember something, but I’m not quite sure.”

Here are some examples:

1.
“Hey, Jack! It’s me! Do you recognise me?” (= Do you remember who I am?)
“Hi. Your face rings a bell, but … where did we meet?”

2.
“Hi, Tom. Could I get my book back?”
“Wait. What book?”
“The one I lent you like 5 years ago?”
“Sorry, I’m not sure which book you mean. You giving me a book … It doesn’t ring a bell.” = I can’t remember the act.

3.
“Susan Smith … do you remember her?”
“Sorry, her name doesn’t ring a bell.” = I can’t remember the name.

4. I wanted to see a movie last night, and I went through the cast , you know, the list of the actors/actreses -, but none of the names rang a bell with me.

5. Big brands try to ring a bell with colours, logos, sound logos etc. They want you to remember them as soon as you see their logo or hear their sound logo.

Great. And now go practise. See you soon.