ringers and dead ringers

 

If you say that someone is a  “Dead Ringer,” it means they have the exact likeness of someone else - like a twin.

Going back to 19th century U.S. in horse racing,  an owner might substitute a horse that was faster or slower than the original racing horse to con the bookies. That horse looked exactly like the substituted horse and was called a ringer. 

The term "ringer" may have originated from the British term of the same name, which means "substitute or exchange". 

But why "dead"? In the phrase "dead ringer", the word means "precise" or "exact", similar to the phrases "dead on", "dead center", and "dead heat". 

When I was younger, I had heard the more frightening folk etymology of a "dead ringer." This usage originated from a custom of providing a cord in coffins for someone who buried alive to ring a bell for help. However, this is a folk etymology and the phrase has nothing to do with death.