Call someone out
to call someone out (on/for sth) – verbo frasale transitivo
to call someone on sth – verbo frasale transitivo
It’s really up to you whether you call the person out or choose to ignore [them].
Emberger called out the government for downplaying concerns with fracking.
Calling a person out on their bad behavior can be a difficult task.
His comments were a load of hype, and I called him on his assertion by pointing out the inconvenient facts.
Sebbene la maggior parte delle parole o locuzioni nuove in inglese sia costituita da sostantivi, anche altre parti del discorso danno origine a vari neologismi. È il caso, per esempio, dei verbi frasali, come dimostrano i recenti big up, dial down e dumb down.
Tra i significati ‘storici’ del verbo frasale call out ci sono il dire o chiamare a voce alta (Please call out your name); il chiamare o far intervenire (We had to call the plumber out last night) e il far scendere in sciopero, mobilitare (They decided to call the workers out on strike). A questi si è aggiunta una nuova accezione, quella di contestare a qualcuno atteggiamenti o affermazioni che si ritengono inaccettabili o ingiustificati. Il verbo esprime inoltre una certa esasperazione nei confronti di tali atteggiamenti o affermazioni e implica l’avere conoscenza di fatti o l’autorità per muovere la critica.
Il verbo ha forma variabile, come mostrano gli esempi dati sopra: to call someone out, on something, o for doing something, o to call someone on something.
Origini del termine
To call someone out nasce nell’inglese americano ma è oggi usato anche in altre varianti, incluso l’inglese britannico. Per inciso, to call someone out un tempo significava ‘sfidare qualcuno a duello’.
to call someone out (on/for sth) – phrasal verb:
to call someone on sth – phrasal verb:
It’s really up to you whether you call the person out or choose to ignore [them].
Emberger called out the government for downplaying concerns with fracking.
Calling a person out on their bad behavior can be a difficult task.
His comments were a load of hype, and I called him on his assertion by pointing out the inconvenient facts.
While the vast majority of new words entering the language are nouns, other parts of speech can be very productive too. New phrasal verb meanings appear relatively frequently, some recent examples being big up, dial down, and dumb down.
The phrasal verb call out has a number of very well-established meanings, including to shout something (Please call out your name); to ask someone to come and fix a problem (We had to call the plumber out last night); and to tell workers to stop working (They decided to call the workers out on strike). A new meaning of call out has recently entered the language, meaning to challenge someone critically for behaviour or statements that you regard as unacceptable or unjustified. The meaning is stronger than that of simply challenging someone: it suggests a degree of exasperation at the behaviour or the opinions expressed, as well as possesssion of the knowledge or authority necessary to challenge them.
The form of this verb is quite variable, as the examples above show: you can call someone out, on something, or for doing something, or you can simply call them on it.
Origin
Call someone out started life in American English but is now widely used in other varieties including British English. Perhaps not coincidentally, call someone out has another meaning which is mostly obsolete: in the days when duels were an accepted method of settling disputes, to call someone out meant to challenge them to a duel.
