Click below to listen to the phrase.
Choose the correct definition a, b or c.
a) start working hard !
Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.
b) do something about it !
Well done ! That’s the right answer.
’wake up and smell the coffee’ is said to tell someone to pay attention and do something about a situation. When someone doesn’t realise what is really happening or is not paying enough attention to events around them, you can tell them to wake up and smell the coffee.
French translation
réagis, ouvre les yeux, réveille-toi
How NOT to translate : *réveille-toi et renifle le café
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Examples in context
‘Wake up and smell the coffee
With more clients producing digital work in-house, new types of companies muscling in on agencies’ territory and retention becoming a thing of the past, ad businesses need to act fast to ensure they remain relevant in the changing media landscape, Mette Davis writes.
According to a current study by the US Association of National Advertisers, 58 per cent of clients now have in-house agencies and brands are increasingly using shops for one-off projects over a purely retained remuneration model. More than 50 per cent of these in-house agencies are producing digital work, which begs the question of whether this is set to increase as clients become more agile and real-time responsive and less likely to pass the buck to someone else.’
www.campaignlive.co.uk, 11 June 2015
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‘Time to wake up and smell the coffee in markets
How are market participants reacting to the turmoil in the global bond and equity markets ?
Alberto Gallo, head of macro credit research at RBS, says : “It’s time, wake up and smell the coffee. Markets have been comforted by the holding hand of central banks for the past five years. Credit investors had become so used to the “buy-on-dip” trade that many stopped questioning that this holding hand could at some point disappear . . .’
www.ft.com, 16 Oct. 2014
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Everyday usage
Reformers are calling out clearly to Liberals saying it is time to wake up and smell the coffee.
Things have changed around here, Mr know-it-all ! Wake up and smell the coffee !
c) don’t be so gullible !
Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.
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