" Wake up and smell the coffee" Where does this injunction come from?

It's recently become a vogue expression among the unthinking classes in Britain [i.e managers who "think" in cliches and management-speak].It's unlikely to last.The appeal is in its novelty. It has the air of an expression from a self-help or management book.It sounds American. British people would only wake up to a coffee smell if there ever were a coffee equivalent of the Teasmade ( an alarm clock that makes tea! )or had staff who made it for them and they drank coffee first thing.Is the injunction literal in its reference? What circumstances are there in which an American would be dozing when there's coffee just made?

It IS an American Cliche.

quote:

Cliché: Wake-up and smell the coffee
Explanation:
1. Stop being naïve.
2. Realize what is going on around you.
Country: United States

I've seen several references that Ann Landers used this phrase to encourage someone to get their head out of their.. well, you know ....and face the facts.

Apart from being a cliche made famous by Anne Landers, it is in fact the smell that most Americans wake up to every morning. Coffee is the american equivalent of the Brits' tea, and your Teasmade would be our CoffeeMate, etc.

I thought Ann Landers coined the phrase. Was it used earlier?

Oops! I meant to say "MrCoffee" or similar machines that do what Fred says TeasMade does; brews the stuff at a pre-set time. CoffeeMate is a coffee creamer/additive that comes in several flavors.. But Im sure that waking up to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee has been part of American life long before Ann Landers coined the phrase, if she, indeed, did.

'...a certain high up Disney executive (heavily hinted to be Michael Eisner) watched the final cut of the movie ['Aladdin'] and afterwards said, "That was good but I don't think we should be making fun of the homeless." Apparently he had misheard Genie's line "Wake up and smell the hummus" as "Wake up and smell the homeless." www.animated-news.com

quote:

Originally posted by newnickname:
Apparently he had misheard Genie's line "Wake up and smell the hummus" as "Wake up and smell the homeless."

He was taking pitta on the homeless?

quote:

Originally posted by FredPuli:
He was taking pitta on the homeless?

Nope..just being lentil with them.

By the way, Canadians drink more coffee per capita than Americans.
The phrase, wake up and smell the coffee, is, however, distinctly un-Canadian.

That's because you are trying to warm up, dg. After all, you are in Canada, you know.

quote:

Originally posted by dance girl:

The phrase, wake up and smell the coffee, is, however, distinctly un-Canadian.

dg, is that because Canadians are alert, awake, always up and about early, well before any coffee is brewed, and therefore the expression would be meaningless in Canada ?

In my humble experience, that may be because Canadian coffee is more like dishwater.

In Vancouver, nobody much seems to make coffee; they drag themselves, bleary-eyed, to Starbucks every morning to buy it. So, I guess they're half-awake by the time they smell it.

(The worst coffee in the world is available from a little van that sits on the Scotland/England border near Penrith.)

quote:

Originally posted by FredPuli:
dg, is that because Canadians are alert, awake, always up and about early, well before any coffee is brewed, and therefore the expression would be meaningless in Canada ?

Hahaha.
OK, I finally stopped laughing at your question, long enough to be able to type, Fred. If ever there was a nation that needs it's jump start of morning coffee..it's Canada.
As in Vancouver, we in Ontario, buy a lot of coffee on the way to work. The line ups outside Tim Horton's drive-throughs, in the morning, can be up to half an hour long.
Canadians need their coffee fix to be able to achieve anything! So much so, that we even have a Tim Horton's for the troops in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

NNN, you rich, trendy BC hippy-types, might be able to afford Four Bucks coffee. But we, here in the rest of Canada, worship our morning Timmy's.

quote:

The worst coffee in the world is available from a little van that sits on the Scotland/England border near Penrith.)

I think I may have stopped there!

quote:

Originally posted by dance girl:

quote:

Originally posted by FredPuli:
dg, is that because Canadians are alert, awake, always up and about early, well before any coffee is brewed, and therefore the expression would be meaningless in Canada ?

Hahaha.
OK, I finally stopped laughing at your question, long enough to be able to type, Fred.

Oh dear, I'd the tiniest suspicion that you'd say that !

What a great excuse for being late for work: " I would have been here on time, but there was a big queue for coffee"