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Brazil flagGabriel
Question Hi, there Could you help me with some questions? 1) In the Tv show "The middle" and I came across a phrase that made me confused. A bout was talking to his grandfather about blood tests and and the boy said: "So, get me straight... " you can check your blood at home and then just call it in and get all the information online? I didn't understand why "it" in "call it in". why not just call in? 2) In a movie, a ship captain said: Ride to windward! What does it mean? Why ride and not sail? And why "to windward" and not just "windward"? Please, guys!! Thank you a lot for all!!

Corrections · 2

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'Call it in and get all the information online'- to 'call something in' means to call someone and give them some information (in this case the grandfather's blood information). So just 'call in' does not imply that you are providing any information, it just means to call someone to talk or whatever. 'Call it in' means you are calling someone and reporting something or providing some kind of information, the 'it'. Call it in could be also be said as 'call in and report' In the second question you are not talking about 'normal' English, you are talking about sailing terminology. So it's almost like you are asking about a separate dialect that only sailors would use. Maybe the movie was set hundreds of years ago or maybe this is how sailors talk now, but it really does not apply to the way anyone else would talk. So 'ride' is just a verb used instead of sail, but only sailors use that term. 'To windward' presumably means to sail into the wind, like the wind is blowing into your face, while 'windward' maybe means in the same direction as the wind. But I'm only guessing about this, so don't listen to me.
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These are both confusing, but I would assume that "it" is referring to the results of the blood test. The context matters though. For the second question, I don't know why they would say "to windward." I agree with you that just saying "windward" would make more sense. In fact, in this case, the sentence doesn't make sense at all without context.

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