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Youâre not feeling well. Maybe itâs the swine fluâor the Mexican flu or H1N1âbut you donât want to take any chances.
So you phone your boss, reporting that you wonât be in that day.
Did you just âcall in sickâ? Or did you âcall out sickâ?
The more common expression is âcall in sick,â because youâre calling âinâ to say youâre going to be âoutâ sick. But recently, many television reporters and anchors have been saying that people have been âcalling out sick,â as in âDozens of children called out sick from swine flu, forcing the closing of the school.â And itâs showing up in print more, as well.
If you havenât heard of someone âcalling out sick,â chances are you arenât on the East Coast, where the phrase seems to be becoming pandemic. Of about two dozen cases of âout sickâ in the last six months, all occurred east of York, Pa., and north of Norfolk, Va. (One appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but the writer grew up in Brooklyn, according to his Linked In profile.)
Some wise guy might say, âWell, if you call out sick, you say youâre staying out of work, but if you call in sick, you say youâre staying in.â In other words, theyâre the same thing.
Most usage guides donât address the issue, but The Columbia Guide to Standard American English and The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy both use âcalling in sickâ in examples. And Websterâs Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged has an entry for âcall in,â with a sub-entry for âcall in sickâ: âto report by telephone that one will be absent because of illness.â
While not incorrect, âcalling out sickâ can be jarring to many readersâ eyes or viewersâ ears. It probably arose from the same regional preferences that have New Yorkers âstanding on line,â while most everyone else is âstanding in line.â It may be an over-condensation of the phrase âIâm calling in to say Iâm going to be out sick,â using only the beginning and end of the expression.
You can use either one, but keep in mind regional preferences. And just make sure youâre actually sick before you make that call.
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