change the channel

Meaning: (chieflyCanada,idiomatic)Toredirectsomeone’sattention.2002October 20, Thomas M. Defrank, “Dems Can't Cash In on Economy”, inNew York Daily News‎[1], retrieved17 October 2013:Repeated attempts to "change the channel" to pocketbook issues that traditionally favor Democratic candidates have flopped.2002October 26, Ken Thomas, “McBride Ad Reveals Praise from Bush”, inSarasota Herald-Tribune‎[2], Sarasota, Florida, retrieved17 October 2013, page 6B:“This is all smoke and mirrors because the issue in this campaign is taxes, which candidate is going to raise them and which candidate is going to cut them,” Harris said. “Bill McBride doesn’t want that to be the focus so he’s trying tochange the channel.”2008September 10, “Harper’s Fresh Commitment on Afghan Pullout Neutralizes War as Election Issue”, inThe Guardian‎[3](Canadian Press), Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, archived fromthe originalon4 March 2016:Conservative Leader Stephen Harper tried tochange the channelon a campaign of distractions Wednesday as he deftly neutralized the Afghan mission as an election issue.2010January 22, Jackie Calmes, “With Tougher Stance, Obama Takes on Banks”, inThe New York Times‎[4], archived fromthe originalon15 December 2022:[Big banks] have become the perfect foil for the White House as it tries to lead the Democratic Party out of its post-Massachusetts morass — and tochange the channelfrom the seemingly unending debate over health insurance.2012January 9, Les Whittington, “Environmentalists Hit Back Over Pipeline Hearings”, inToronto Star‎[5], retrieved17 October 2013:Hudema responded, “This government doesn’t want to have a public discussion on the industry’s disastrous safety record, or the toxic effects that spills from a 1,170-kilometre tarsands pipeline would have on indigenous rights, the Rocky Mountains, the B.C. coast, or the more than 1,000 rivers and streams this pipeline would cross. Instead, they try tochange the channelby inventing scapegoats and bogeymen. […]”; Used other than figuratively or idiomatically:seechange,‎the,‎channel.

Examples:

EN: You short out the antenna input and change the channel.
ES: -Tú. Se cortocircuita la entrada de la antena y se cambia el canal.
EN: - Amelia, why did you change the channel?
ES: -¿Amelia, por qué cambiaste el canal?
EN: - Margarita, change the channel.
ES: -Margarita, cambia el canal.
EN: - Why did you change the channel? - Why shouldn't I?
ES: - ¿Por qué has cambiado de emisora?
EN: Let's change the channel!
ES: ¡Cambiemos de canal! No se puede.
EN: Do you want to change the channel?
ES: ¿Quieres cambiar de canal?
EN: Please change the channel.
ES: Por favor cambie de estación.
EN: You change the channel? No way. I want to see something.
ES: Mi única verdad.
EN: So change the channel.
ES: Pues cambia de canal. Lleva tu artículo a un público mayor.
EN: We might as well change the channel.
ES: Podríamos cambiar de canal.
EN: Search me, I always change the channel when the news comes on.
ES: Ni idea, siempre cambio el dial cuando vienen las noticias.
EN: May I change the channel or are you guys watching this halftime salute to our fabulous universe?
ES: ¿Puedo cambiar de canal o están ustedes viendo este saludo del descanso de nuestro universo fabuloso?
EN: Come on, McNickle, change the channel, will you?
ES: McNickle, bájale el volumen, ¿quieres? - Sí.
EN: Let's change the channel.
ES: Vamos a cambiar de canal.
EN: - Well, then change the channel.
ES: - Entonces cambia de canal.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).