earth to
1
9.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
tierra a
- There's a spiritual idea here that hard, painful work is what you are on earth to do, an idea that Marx would strongly disagree with.
Examples
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That was what you feel you were put on this earth to do, you will endure barriers and obstacles and refusals and difficulty and keep going.
-
You're, you are, you are put here on this earth to do something that nobody else can do.
-
You know, maybe that's what, you know, I was put on this earth to do was to help inspire people that didn't have that to have a Big Brother or a big sister or a big star.
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Earth to Alex, can you hear me?
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Earth to Tiffany, you seem a bit lost in thought.
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Earth to Po, it's time to pay attention.
Synonyms
1
7.8
A loud call to get someone's attention from a distance
1
4.4
A short shout used to get someone's attention
Surface Forms
Morphology
Earth + to
This is a playful, idiomatic use modeled on radio-call formulas (e.g. "Earth to [someone]") meaning 'pay attention', which is not directly derivable from the literal meanings of 'Earth' and 'to'. The pragmatic/cultural knowledge required to interpret the formula is unlikely to be available to an average B1 learner who only knows the constituent words, so the expression is opaque.
Etymology
The phrase earth to comes from old radio shows and space stories where someone far away would shout 'Earth to...' as if calling across the sky. So, people now say earth to 'name' to 'get someone's attention' when that person seems 'distracted' or 'not listening'.