Loud Enough to Wake the Dead (Idioms)

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Welcome to English in a Minute!

Cicadas are noisy insects. One very large group of them appears in the U.S. every 17 years. And they are incredibly loud.

Loud Enough to Wake the Dead

Speaker A: So, like I said, Jonathan, I can do that for you.
Speaker B: What, Anna? I’m sorry but I just can’t hear you. What is that buzzing sound?
Speaker A: Cicadas! Millions of cicadas. They are loud enough to wake the dead.
Speaker B: What are you saying?
Speaker A: …………
Speaker B: What?

Noises cannot really bring someone back to life. But when we say something is “loud enough to wake the dead,” we just mean it is extremely loud.

And that’s English in a Minute!

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*This article has been edited and reprinted from VOA Learning English with permission from Voice of America (VOA) for use in English language materials.