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  • Adding salt to food can take years off your life.

  • This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

  • I'm Neil. And I'm Beth.

  • And we have lots of language about this story in today's programme.

  • We do. And remember, subscribe to our channel, like this video,

  • and try the quiz on our website.

  • Now, today's story.

  • Salt. It makes everything taste better, but it's also killing people.

  • New research has found that adding salt to your meal may reduce your life

  • by two years.

  • But the good news is that

  • even a small reduction in salt can make a big difference to your health.

  • You've been looking at the headlines,

  • Beth. What's the vocabulary?

  • We have 'deadly', 'knock off', and 'teatime'.

  • This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

  • Let's have a look now at a first headline. This one comes from US News.

  • So the word

  • we are looking at is 'deadly'. And Beth,

  • there's a big clue in the first part of that word

  • 'dead'. Yes, we see in this headline that's the salt shaker -

  • that's the thing you pour salt on to your food with - may be deadly.

  • Now, that's an adjective, and

  • it just means 'likely to kill'.

  • Yeah. And we see this word often in connection with substances, diseases,

  • dangerous situations, and animals.

  • Isn't that right? Yeah.

  • So, for example, a deadly spider is one that can kill you.

  • But like so many of the words we look at in News Review,

  • it has another, very different meaning, and

  • I'm deadly serious about that.

  • There we go, Neil. Yep, 'deadly', as you've used it

  • there, means 'completely', and we often use it with dull, boring and serious.

  • 'Deadly dull'.

  • 'Deadly boring'. 'Deadly serious'.

  • You do look a bit serious

  • there Neil.

  • Sorry, I was just thinking about that deadly spider. And get ready for the bonus word

  • now, Beth. Spiders are dead scary.

  • They are, you are dead right, Neil.

  • So some people use 'dead' in this way too.

  • Especially if they are from the north of England, and it can mean

  • 'completely' or 'very'. 'Dead right'.

  • 'Dead easy'. 'Dead interesting'.

  • Yes. And what's really interesting, or dead interesting, about this use is

  • that we use it for good things, so 'dead easy'.

  • Yeah, or dead good, but we don't say 'deadly easy' or 'deadly

  • good'. Best to keep 'deadly' for dull, boring or serious things.

  • Let's take another look at that.

  • Let's have a look at our next

  • like this one is from nine News in Australia.

  • We are looking at the phrasal verb

  • 'knock off'. And it's a phrasal verb,

  • so, unfortunately, it's got lots of different meanings.

  • Yeah. You're right. But in this headline,

  • it just means 'reduce'.

  • Let's think literally.

  • Imagine you have a pile of things,

  • say books,

  • and you knock one off the top. That happens.

  • Yeah. And so the size of the pile is smaller.

  • It's reduced.

  • Exactly. So in this headline,

  • we see that too much salt can knock years off your life.

  • It can reduce the number of years

  • you live. That doesn't sound too good.

  • We can also knock a few pounds off the price of something. So,

  • for example, if I'm selling this beautiful luxury

  • watch, and you think it's too expensive.

  • That's right. Can you knock ten pounds off it?

  • I want him to reduce the price. I'll think about it.

  • Talking of selling watches, it's got another meaning, hasn't it?

  • Yeah, we can also use 'knock off' as a single word, with

  • or without a hyphen, and this time

  • it means 'a cheap,

  • possibly illegal copy of a real product'.

  • So, actually Neil,

  • I don't think I want that watch. It's a knock off. How dare you?

  • Let's have another look at that.

  • Our next headline, then, please.

  • This one comes from The Sun.

  • We're looking at 'teatime'.

  • This is easy enough.

  • It's the time when you have tea.

  • Everybody knows what tea is.

  • But you don't put salt in it.

  • Well, that depends,

  • Neil. Tea is,

  • of course, a drink, and you definitely don't want to put salt in it,

  • but tea is also a meal.

  • Teatime is traditionally a small meal in the afternoon

  • with tea and cake. Yes,

  • but there is more to tea, and this is where it can get quite confusing,

  • because depending on where you live, tea means different things. Beth,

  • you are for the north of England.

  • I am. And I call the meal that I have in the evening,

  • my main meal, tea.

  • So I would say:

  • 'Do you want to come round for tea?'

  • Neil, you're from the south of England, aren't you?

  • Yes, I'm from the south, and I call my main meal in the evening 'dinner'

  • and I would ask somebody if they want to come for dinner?

  • So, teatime

  • can be an afternoon meal or an evening meal. Though

  • not everyone uses 'teatime' in this way.

  • Let's take a look at that one more time.

  • We've had 'deadly' -

  • it can kill you. 'Knock off' - reduce,

  • and 'teatime' - a meal

  • for some in the afternoon or the evening.

  • Don't forget there's a quiz on our website.

  • Thank you for joining us and see you next time,

  • goodbye. Bye.

Adding salt to food can take years off your life.

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