Make your call

Choose your mode of communication: mobile phone, land line or PC.
A young fashionista makes a call near the thrift stores on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California. Did you know that "make a call" is a common idiom?

The word "call" can refer to many more things than a telephone call. For example, the sound made by an animal when communicating with other animals is a call:
• "Do you hear that? It's the call of the coyote."

A demand for something is also a call:
• "Al Gore's film was a call to action on climate change."

To make a call is to use one's judgement to make a decision:
• "Was the ball out of bounds? That's a difficult call to make."
• "Are your children old enough to see this film? You'll have to make that call."

This idiom can also refer to a prediction:
• "Will Libya become a democracy now? It's too early to make that call."