среда, 29 августа 2012 г.

Modern Spoken & Written Phrase


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!