call out

[Jonathan Lighter]

I've been familiar with this "new" sense since at least 1970.

It means "challenge (to a fight); hence, challenge; call to account."

JL

On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 12:36 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: call out
>
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>
> Perhaps it's in the OED, perhaps not.  Under "call, v." there is:
>
> A.  "†8. To challenge; to impeach, accuse of.
> Obs.", most recent citation 1490.  But that is without the "out".
>
> B.  "5. To rate or reprove; to challenge sharply.
> colloq.", most recent citation 1940.  But that's under "to call down".
>
> C.  Under "to call out", there is "3. To
> challenge to fight (esp. a duel)", most recent
> citation 1882.  The "challenge" notion is the
> same; the "to what" is merely public rebuke or
> ridicule.  (Which makes it sound like something
> one would find in Puritan times.)
>
> Joel
>
> At 11/19/2012 02:40 AM, Paul Frank wrote:
> >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
> >
> >Is this sense of "to call out" in the OED and other dictionaries?
> >
> >Frigid Mayor Bloomberg Called Out For His Inability To Hug
> >http://gothamist.com/2012/11/16/frigid_mayor_bloomberg_called_out_f.php
> >
> >Canada Called Out for 'Abysmal' Free Speech on Campuses
> >
> http://worldnews.about.com/b/2012/10/31/canada-called-out-for-abysmal-free-speech-on-campuses.htm
> >
> >Students sometimes call him out for being too hands-off.
> >
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/wheaton-high-to-model-project-based-learning-for-montgomery-county-schools/2012/10/28/b945602a-1a05-11e2-bd10-5ff056538b7c_story.html
> >
> >Paul
> >
> >Paul Frank
> >Translator
> >German, French, Chinese => English
> >Neuchātel, Switzerland
> >paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
> >
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