English term
he has the Terminex people out
Could you please help me with this phrase? What do you understand by "he HAS ... people OUT"?
Thanks in advance!!!
Non-PRO (2): Chris Says Bye, Yvonne Gallagher
When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.
How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:
An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)
A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).
Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.
When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.
* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.
Responses
Germany
BA in English. Passionate about language
Native in: English 
Works in: German to English, English
The Terminex people come out when he calls them
The Terminex people are obviously insect exterminators. The roaches that infest his bathroom come back after each time the exterminator has been, so he calls them again - has them out to solve the problem.
| agree |
Tony M
: It's just another way of saying 'to call them out' — i.e. ask them to attend on customer's premises.
29 mins
|
|
Thank you!
|
|
| agree |
Daryo
51 mins
|
|
Thank you!
|
|
| agree |
Darius Saczuk
1 hr
|
|
Thank you!
|
|
| agree |
philgoddard
: But as Mihaela points out, it's Terminix, America's biggest pest control company. Here in Florida, everyone has a termite contract with them.
1 hr
|
|
Thank you - I guessed what Termix is, but thanks for the confirmation.
|
|
| agree |
Peter Dahm Robertson
2 hrs
|
|
Thank you!
|
|
| agree |
Anastasia Kalantzi
7 hrs
|
|
Thank you!
|
|
| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: With Tony. Nothing complicated about this structure
1 day 12 hrs
|
|
Thank you!
|
|
| neutral |
Chris Says Bye
: As Phil keeps telling everyone, it's Terminix :-)
2 days 23 hrs
|
United Kingdom
Ro native,BA Eng,translator,proofreader
Native in: Romanian (Variants: Moldovan, Romania, Transylvanian) 
Works in: English to Romanian, Romanian to English, Romanian, and 1 more.
Terminix professionals
In many cases, professional services are necessary. Terminix professionals know how to get rid of cockroaches and can provide guaranteed long-term cockroach control.
| neutral |
Daryo
: that wasn't the question
1 hr
|
|
Oh well, i dont quite agree. First he needed to understand what Terminix referred to, and then it would have been obvious that they would be "called out" to exterminate roaches at whatever location.
|
|
| neutral |
Chris Says Bye
: As Phil keeps telling everyone, it's Terminix :-)
2 days 23 hrs
|
a question of viewpoint
To answer the question actually asked:
"he has them [the Terminex people] out"
=
"he has them [the Terminex people] coming to his home on call-outs"
=
"he has them [the Terminex people] getting out of their "base" and come to his home to exterminate pests"
NOT
"chucking them [the Terminex people] out of his home" - another possible meaning that wouldn't make sense in this ST
Also known as a "call out" = getting service people to get "OUT" of their own premises and come to you.
It does sounds a bit strange until you look at it from the right viewpoint: a mechanic getting to you on a "call out" to fix your car in the middle of nowhere is "out" of their own shop. You're not going anywhere, it's for the mechanic that it's "going out".
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2023-03-17 13:36:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
IOW one more case of apparently nonsensical text being in fact perfectly logical - once you include omitted but implied parts.
| neutral |
philgoddard
: It's not "apparently nonsensical", and the question has already been answered.
18 mins
|
|
If you take this sentence most literally / just as it is, you would think this homeowner keeps chucking out the Terminex crew // Obviously, this question was not asked because what's obvious to you was also obvious to the Asker?
|
|
| neutral |
Chris Says Bye
: As Phil keeps telling everyone, it's Terminix :-)
2 days 21 hrs
|
|
Yeah, OK ...
|
Discussion
You could also say he has the Terminix people in.
:-)