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  • Hello and welcome to The English

  • We Speak. I'm Feifei.

  • And I'm Rob! Now, for this

  • programme, we are going

  • to need two sounds! A slap ...

  • And, a bang ...

  • Very strange! A slap ...

  • And a bang ...

  • Yes! It's a clue for our authentic

  • English expression.

  • Slap-bang - is that an expression?

  • It is when you want to describe

  • something that is directly or

  • exactly in a particular place.

  • It's often used with the short phrase -

  • 'in the middle of something'.

  • Very precise. So the expression

  • 'slap-bang' is an informal way of

  • saying exactly in a certain place'?

  • So not a bit to the left, or a bit

  • to the right?

  • No, slap-bang- means 'exactly'.

  • And we are slap-bang in the

  • middle of this programme, so

  • let s have some examples...

  • He scored an amazing goal - the

  • ball went slap-bang into the

  • middle of the net!

  • I couldn't find my phone anywhere,

  • and there it was - slap-bang

  • in the middle of the table!

  • If you take the train to Edinburgh,

  • you'll see the castle slap-bang in front

  • of you when you come out of the station.

  • This is The English We Speak from

  • BBC Learning English, and we're

  • talking about the expression

  • 'slap-bang' which means exactly

  • or directly in a particular place.

  • And you don t need to make

  • the slap ...

  • Or bang ...

  • sound every time you say it!

  • Well, Rob, I m off to meet some

  • friends at a pub which is

  • slap-bang in the middle of town.

  • OK - anybody I know?

  • Oh just Neil, Roy, Sam and

  • Georgina from the office.

  • And I'm not invited?

  • Well, that is a bit of a slap in the face.

  • 'A slap in the face' - good phrase,

  • Rob, meaning an insult that you

  • weren't expecting. But, sorry.

  • You're still not invited.

  • OK, then. I'll stay here and play

  • with these sound effects. Bye.

  • Bye, Rob.

Hello and welcome to The English

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