Calling people out?!?!

[SmiledWithTheRisingSun]

Whoever the fuck came up with this phrase and why is it suddenly EVERYWHERE?? It makes me cringe. And cross 😡😤 JUST STOP IT WILL YOU?!?! !

(And breathe 😁)

Ugh, yes, not a fan of the ever-more-common calling out. Has a whiff of Nineteen Eighty Four about it. Part of the current climate of no-platforming, language policing, denouncing of ideas and people as problematic.

In my world "calling someone out" means going outside for a fight.

I've started hearing this at work all the time - "so and so has been called out as the IT always in X project", "we've called out the key stakeholders", etc

It's better than 'reach out' though

I get really cross by silly additions to everyday sentences, like...
"She turned round and said.. so I turned round and said..." gives me images of people spinning while having conversations. And also.. "at the end of the day..." IT GETS DARK!! 😠

Yup. It’s up there with ‘judging’ ‘hooked up’ and ‘reached out’.

I think I have reached peak snowflake too.

It was good enough for Dickens - Orlick uses the expression in 'Great Expectations'.

Aye but he's a baddun..

Fenella did he mean it as it is meant in modern parlance?

To call someone out means to challenge them, doesn't it? I think it used to mean to challenge someone to a physical fight only, which is how it's used in Great Expectations.

Just checked - according to the OED, the original expression was meant to challenge someone to a duel....

I think a lot of the examples on here are actually regional (sacking something off certainly is). And also cultural, from BAME communities or international communities (including America obviously) that we now have more access to via TV/ the internet etc.

Language evolves. It’s not a new phenomenon. And in my book, it’s a good thing.

The one new buzzword I cannot stand is “virtual signalling” but I don’t think that’s the fault of the language, it’s the sentiment - it feels so mean spirited to assume people only have principles in order to show off.

Where I come from, calling someone out means inviting them outside for fisticuffs.

I think virtue signalling replaces Pharisee quite well for the non- biblical modern world.

"Virtue signalling" is used incorrectly anyway.

www.adamsmith.org/blog/stop-saying-virtue-signalling

(I'm not a libertarian myself, but I liked that article.)

It does sound right for what people are using it for, I'll give them that.

"Performative allyship" is the term they're looking for, though.

Thanks for that WesternMeadowlark. I nodded along with a lot of Alastair' s comment BTL.

That virtual signalling article is really interesting - thanks

Virtue not virtual!!

Is it not from duelling type scenarios?

It's not as bad as 'clapped back'. I.e. replying.

Or even worse, 'shut down'. Why on earth is it considered good form to 'shut down' a conversation? If you 'shut down' someone for racism or sexism, you're basically cutting someone off from an avenue where they can learn and they just slink off to the trollier parts of the internet.

"Calling someone out" has been a thing for years. As a PP said, as long as I can remember. It's not new.

ok I have a question. Has 'it is what it is' now replaced 'that's the way things are'?

I've seen a lot of the former about recently, and initially found it slightly annoying on the basis that yes, we know that already. But on the other hand it means the same as the latter, which seems fine and does I think have a purpose - conveys a sort of weary resignation!