Close call
Today’s expression is a “close call.” A close call is when something bad, or something dangerous, almost happens—but doesn’t. Do you remember how you heard it earlier? We were talking about the piece of space debris that almost hit the International Space Station. If it had hit the station, it might have caused an explosion, or worse. Luckily, it did not hit the Space Station. But it came within eight-tenths of a mile. The astronauts were in their capsule, ready to evacuate. It was a close call. The crash almost happened, but it didn’t.
Anyone who drives a car has had a close call. When we’re driving, we often encounter situations that might have been bad, but weren’t. That’s a reality of being on the road. Someone pulls out in front of you. You turn, but didn’t see another car or a pedestrian. An animal runs out in front of your vehicle. You change lanes without looking behind you, or someone else does that to you. You glance in your mirror—or, let’s be honest—at your phone, and you didn’t see the car in front of you stop. In most cases, we as drivers are able to react in time to avert disaster. Many times, we can react fast enough so that there isn’t much real danger.
Sometimes, though, you very nearly have an accident. For most of us, it’s not often, but it does happen sometimes. You hit the brakes and you just barely stop before hitting the car in front of you. Maybe you stop just a few inches from the other car. Your heart starts beating fast and you think, “wow, that was a close call.” Wow, that was almost a bad situation, but we narrowly avoided it.
You can use “close call” with natural disasters. Houston, the fourth-largest American city, is on the Gulf of Mexico, an area that gets a lot of hurricanes. They are worried that a powerful hurricane might send a surge of water into the city. They process a lot of oil and chemicals in Houston, so a bad storm could cause environmental damage. Last month, Hurricane Laura hit the Gulf of Mexico. It affected Houston, but did not directly hit Houston. This was a close call. If the storm had hit Houston directly, it might have been the bad situation everyone has been afraid of. So after experiencing this close call, they are now thinking seriously again about building storm barriers.
That often happens after close calls, right? We nearly experience a disaster, and then afterward we want to be more prepared for the future. Think about the last time that happened in your car. You’ll probably be more careful in the few days after you experience a close call.
It often happens that way with health. Picture someone who is older and a little overweight. Imagine that person has a minor heart attack. It’s possible to survive a minor heart attack if you go to the hospital and get medication to increase blood flow to the heart. But a heart attack is a dangerous thing: you can absolutely die from one; it happens every day. If, however, a person survives a minor heart attack, you would definitely say that person had a close call. And often after having a close call, we change our behavior a little. Something bad almost happened; the person changed his or her behavior—eating better, exercising more, being proactive with medication, whatever.
Here are some other examples of a “close call.” Because of an air-traffic control error, an airplane, as it is landing, passes within a few feet of the other planes on the runway waiting to take off. That could have been bad; it was a close call. You are the victim of a gunshot wound, but the bullet doesn’t hit any vital organs and surgeons can remove the bullet from your body. A close call. Your pet accidentally eats something poisonous. He gets his stomach pumped at the vet’s office and he survives. I saw news of people out camping in California and the wildfires caught up to them quickly. They weren’t paying attention to the news on their camping trip and found the fires quickly approaching. They were able to escape by car, but it was a close call.
Those are all serious situations. But you can use “close call” even in situations that are not very serious. The other day I almost knocked a full cup of coffee off the counter in the morning; I wasn’t fully awake yet. It didn’t spill, but it was a close call. The Chicago Bears football team was winning in the fourth quarter of their game against the New York Giants this year. The Giants were right about to score and take the lead when time ran out in the game. For the Bears, it was a close call. They almost lost.
In these situations that are not life-and-death, you can use “close call” to almost playfully suggest that something bad almost happened. If you really have to use the restroom but there isn’t one nearby, and you search and search. You finally find one and rush off to use it. You might come out and joke to your friends or family, “Wow, that was a close call.” Disaster averted!
JR’s song of the week
JR’s Song of the Week is “Heaven is a Place on Earth” by Belinda Carlisle. It came out in 1987 and was popular in the US, Canada, and Europe and narrowly missed out on a Grammy Award. “Heaven is a Place on Earth” by Belinda Carlisle, and you can play that song right from your dashboard as a member at PlainEnglish.com—membership is free.
See you next time!
That’s all today.
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Use realistic expressions like a native speaker
