Ever wondered why do we use the phrase, ‘Bell the cat’ in a conversation? 

The English language is replete with strange English phrases, idioms, and proverbs that make no sense when considered literally. However, they definitely add an interesting twist to our daily conversations. For instance, has anyone challenged you to ‘bell the cat’ ever? Wondering what does that phrase even imply? In fact, where did it originate from? Let’s find out more. 

What is the meaning of the phrase ‘Bell the cat’? 

The literal meaning of the phrase, ‘Bell the cat’ is to take up a job or a task that is difficult to perform.  In other words, when you ask someone, "Who is going to bell the cat?” you're looking for someone who has the confidence to do something risky.  

How is the phrase used in day-to-day conversations? 

Some common examples of the usage of this phrase in daily life are here: 

• We need to inform the minister that it's his son who has been leaking information to the media. But who is going to bell the cat? 

• There is politics, everyone knows triple talaq and halala are oppressive to women, but who will bell the cat? 
• These are the mice trying to bell the cat — only they can’t get one mouse to go out and do it,” he said. 
• Acting within their autonomous powers SBP and NAB can bell the cat to save the future. 
• A man is a hero if he can bell the cat. 

What is the origin of the phrase ‘Bell the cat’? 

Belling the Cat is an Aesop fable also known under the titles The Bell and the Cat and The Mice in Council. A group of mice agrees to hang a bell around a cat's neck to warn of its impending approach in the tale, but they are unable to locate a volunteer to do so. Hence, the moral of the story is that while forming plans don't just think about the end result. Rather, the plan itself must be feasible, or it will be meaningless. The phrase has become an idiom to describe a group of people deciding to complete an impossible endeavour. 

Other interpretations 
Odo of Cheriton's Parabolae, one of the earliest versions of the cat and mice story, emerges as a parable critical of the clergy. It was first written around 1200 and then translated into Welsh, French, and Spanish. The narrative is later found in the work now known as Ysopet-Avionnet, which is mostly made up of Latin poems by Walter of England in the 12th century, followed by a French version from two centuries later. It also includes four poems not found in Walter's Esopus, including the story of "The Council of the Mice" (De muribus consilium facientibus contra catum). The author closes with the mocking remark that laws have little effect unless they are well enforced, and therefore such parliamentary assemblies are like the proverbial mountains giving birth to a mouse. 

In Nicholas Bozon's Anglo-Norman Contes Moralisés (1320), the fable was also used as a cautionary tale, pointing to the difficulty of putting a stop to superior lords' outrages.  In William Langland's allegorical poem Piers Plowman, the narrative of a parliament of rats and mice was also repeated in this setting.   The episode is claimed to refer to the Parliament of 1376, which tried but failed to address popular dissatisfaction with royal extortions levied by nobles acting in the name of the king.