Why do we call someone a dead ringer?
If you resemble another person, you might be said to be a dead ringer for that person. A ringer, from which this phrase comes, is a "substituted racehorse." In the past, an unscrupulous racehorse owner might have a fast horse and a slow horse that were nearly identical in appearance. They'd run the slow horse until the betting odds reached the desired level, then substitute the ringer, who can run much faster. Dead in this case means abrupt or exact, like in dead stop, or dead shot. Alternatively, gangsters with contracts on their lives might hire a person who looked similar to them, a ringer, to appear in a public places. The lookalike would often be convincing enough to fool the contracted killers. You can guess the part about "dead."
If you resemble another person, you might be said to be a dead ringer for that person. A ringer, from which this phrase comes, is a "substituted racehorse." In the past, an unscrupulous racehorse owner might have a fast horse and a slow horse that were nearly identical in appearance. They'd run the slow horse until the betting odds reached the desired level, then substitute the ringer, who can run much faster. Dead in this case means abrupt or exact, like in dead stop, or dead shot. Alternatively, gangsters with contracts on their lives might hire a person who looked similar to them, a ringer, to appear in a public places. The lookalike would often be convincing enough to fool the contracted killers. You can guess the part about "dead."
Charles Mims
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