Wake up Call
This is a great phrase that is often used in
modern spoken or written English. That is a “wake up call“.
This has both a slang meaning and a real meaning.
The “real” meaning of a “wake up call“ is when you are staying at
a hotel but you forgot your alarm clock. (In today’s world, everyone has
a cell phone so it’s not a big deal, but you get the idea). I actually still do
this when I go to hotels. I like the service
If you call the lobby or the front desk, you can tell
them you need a “wake up call” for a certain time. Suppose you had
a business meeting the next day at 9:00 am. You might want a wake
up call for 7:30 am so that you’d be sure to wake up in time for
having a shower, breakfast, and getting to the meeting on time. The lobby
would just call your hotel phone and say “good morning, this is your “wake
up call” or something like that.
In “slang” English, a “wake up call” is when
you see some kind of warning for how you should change your life.
If you have been eating a lot of food and getting
really fat, you might finally go to the gym and weigh yourself (check your
weight on a scale). If you notice that you are 5 kg more than you were
the last time you checked, you might say that was a “wake up call” for
you to start exercising and going on a diet. (It was something that made
you realize it’s a serious problem and you really need to start fixing it NOW).
That’s a “wake up call”
If you failed your job interview for a job you really
wanted because your spoken English was really horrible, that might be a “wake
up call” for you to start studying English seriously.
Maybe this lesson was both helpful and also a wake
up call for you!