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A quick humorous snippet from the beginning of Iron Man (2008):

-Tony: I feel like you're driving me to court martial. This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're gonna pull over and snuff me...What, you're not allowed to talk? Hey, Forest...

-Soldier A: We can talk, sir.

-Tony: Oh, I see. So it's personal?

-Soldier B: No, you intimidate them.

-Tony: Dear God, you're a woman! I honestly, I couldn't have called that. I mean, I would apologize, but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first.

-Soldier B: I'm an airman.

-Tony: Well you have actually excellent bone structure there. I'm kinda... having a hard time not looking at you now. Is that weird? C'mon, it's OK, laugh. Hey!

-Soldier C: Sir, I have a question to ask.

-Tony: Yes, please.

-Soldier C: Is it true you went 12-for-12 with last year's Maxim cover models?

-Tony: That is an excellent question. Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately the Christmas cover was twins. Anything else?

I cannot decide which meaning of call applies here. I would use identify.

Does 12-for-12 mean 12 consecutive months here? Is it an adverbial, splitting went from with? Would it be OK to say 12-out-of-12 or 12-in-12 instead?

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  • This is a similar phrase.
    – Pockets
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 22:46

2 Answers 2

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"Call" here means predict. From dictionary.com: to indicate or characterize accurately in advance; predict, e.g. It is often difficult to call the outcome of an election.

12-for-12 is a measurement of completion. The thing being measured is entirely implied and could, in general, be anything. For example, to go "12-for-12" in free throws in the sport of basketball means to be successful on all 12 attempts. These 12 attempts could all be in the same game, in different games, over the course of a season, etc.

Here "12-for-12" is kind of vague without more information, but presumably it means that that Tony made 12 attempts to date or have sex with the 12 cover models of last year's Maxims, and that all attempts were successful, except that there were actually thirteen because of one pair of twins, etc.

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  • nap, it's 12. March's girl was in conflict with his schedule ;)
    – Kinzle B
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 16:42
  • @Z - in that case, he went 12-for-13.
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 17:06
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    @J.R. But 12-for-12 measuring by covers. Hence yes and no.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 19:00
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    @StoneyB, technically if you're measuring by covers, then it's 11-for-12 :p
    – Pockets
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 22:42
  • @SamuelLijin Well, yes and no :) 12 women for 12 covers.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Jun 30, 2014 at 22:57
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I believe the use here of "for" instead of "in" or "out of", is due to the speaker talking about the attempt, not the actual results. So Tony Stark tried for 12 successful encounters. See "go for": "I'm going for the 12 maxim cover models."

The speaker basically replaced "go for" with "went for", as the question relates to past events.

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