"Lets call it a night." Where does that originates from, what does it mean?
Asked by
rebbel (
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March 19th, 2011
While watching an episode from The Wire some days ago, i heard McNulty say to Bunk: Lets call it a night.
It was in the middle of the night when he said it, so they couldn’t call it anything else, right?
What does it mean really?
And where does that sentence originates from?
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8 Answers
It’s from the song “Lullaby of Broadway,” from the Broadway show, “42nd St.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKuaoculKDg (start at c.1.30)
And the original version is “Let’s call it a day.” Either expression is slang for “let’s end this date.”
It means let’s stop, let’s call it quits for the evening.
The original phrase was call it half a day, first recorded in 1838, which referred to leaving one’s place of employment before the work day was over. The first recorded use of call it a day was in 1919, and of call it a night in 1938.
Source: idioms.yourdictionary.com
@gailcalled Wikipedia says Lullaby of Broadway was published & performed in 1935, but you said it’s the “day” version. There’s a general usage of the two phrases to mean “stop what you’re doing in the day” or “stop what you’re doing in the night”, respectively. Not necessarily interchangeable.
I assumed it meant something like that, and you inform me i was in the right corner, @marinelife!
Thank you too, @gailcalled!
I learned two things from this question, the meaning of Lets call it a day/night and that my favorite Law and Order actor was a pretty good singer too!
@gasman, thank you as well!
On a related note, there’s an old expression from royalty and heraldry and all that…
Once a King, always a King,
But once a Knight is enough.
@rebbel: Jerry Orbach started his illustrious career as a song-and-dance man.
“In 1969, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor (Musical) for his 1968 role of Chuck Baxter in the Burt Bacharach/Hal David musical “Promises, Promises”, a stage adaptation of Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960). This was preceded by a 1965 Tony nomination as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical) for a revival of “Guys and Dolls,” and followed by a 1976 Best Actor (Musical) nomination for the original production of “Chicago. (Source )
I saw Jerry Orbach on Broadway in 42nd Street a looong time ago. He was terrific!
it means in Australia that its late and time for bed, end the party or what ever is happening and get ready for bed :)
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