[Vocabulary] give it a spin

[jiamajia]

Someone tells me that he called a person several times and could not reach him.

If I want to ask him to try again, can I say:

Give it a spin again now.

[bhaisahab]

Originally Posted by jiamajia

Someone tells me that he called a person several times and could not reach him.

If I want to ask him to try again, can I say:

Give it a spin again now.

Not really no. Why "give it a spin"?

[jiamajia]

Originally Posted by bhaisahab

Not really no. Why "give it a spin"?

Because a teacher says it means ‘call him again’ in the context.

[bhaisahab]

Originally Posted by jiamajia

Because a teacher says it means ‘call him again’ in the context.

I've never heard it used in that way.

[RobertT]

I think "to spin" means to turn the dial which is pretty old-fashioned.

[bhaisahab]

Originally Posted by RobertT

I think "to spin" means to turn the dial which is pretty old-fashioned.

I am old enough to remember the old dial telephones, and even then we didn't talk about "giving somebody a spin" to mean calling them on the phone.

[RobertT]

Originally Posted by bhaisahab

I am old enough to remember the old dial telephones, and even then we didn't talk about "giving somebody a spin" to mean calling them on the phone.

I'm sorry I didn't mean anything disrespectful. I was just making a guess because I'm not a native speaker.

I should have expressed it in a different way.

[euncu]

***Neither a teacher nor a native-speaker.***
What the op was actually looking for may be "give it a whirl" and its variants such as " give it a go", "give it a shot" and "give it a try".

[Barb_D]

I think of "give it a whirl" or "give it a spin" to mean to try something out, to try to use something.

I've got a new remote control car and you want to try using it -- "Here, give it a whirl" I say, handing over the control.

Or when you are car shopping (the real types of cars, not the toys) you refer to "taking it out for a spin" when you test drive it.