Learn English – Meaning of “call it” in The Avengers

meaning-in-contextpronouns

I have been studying English by reading The Avengers script.
Here are two passages.

  1. The Avengers look up, watching as more Leviathans and hundreds of warriors fly through the portal.
    — Natasha: G… Guys?
    — Stark: Call it, Captain.
    — Captain: All right, listen up. [blah blah]

    Seeing that Captain starts ordering each of them, does call it mean "order it"? In any case I don't see what "it" means here. Could you explain this to me?

  2. — Fury: Agent Coulson is down.
    — Other: A medical team is on its way to your location.
    — Fury: They're here. They called it.
    — All: …

    When Fury says "they called it", I guess it maybe means "they said he is dead already". Call = "say", it = "death"? Did I understand right?

    Also, can down mean "dead"? When my father passed away, can I say "my father was down" instead?

Best Answer

The first instance represents a shortened form of "call the play". This term derives from American Football where it refers to when a team is told what they're going to (attempt to) do after the next restart - the person who decides this is usually either the coach or the quarterback. Colloquially, it can refer to taking ownership of a decision and making it. In the context, "it" is "the play", ie the strategy that the Avengers will use to deal with the situation.

Your interpretation of the second instance is correct - it derives from the formal requirement of medical professionals to make a note of the time of death for patients they've been treating - more fully: "they've called the time of death".

As per msam's answer, "down" doesn't necessarily mean dead, it could just mean "out of operation", it's commonly applied to people who have been shot and are incapacitated.

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