Coronavirus: Oktoberfest cancelled: BBC News Review

hello and welcome to news review once again from our home studios we are in

lockdown like many millions of other people but we are still bringing you the

headlines in News Review Catherine is in another part of London but by the magic

of technology we are together hi Catherine

I knew hi everyone yes working from home again and today's story comes from

Germany where a very big festival has been cancelled okay well I wonder what

that can be let's find out from this BBC news report you can perhaps understand

why the authorities have made this call and if you've been to Oktoberfest you'll

know that those people pack into huge decorated tents they sit side by side at

trestle tables drinking beer and eating German food while listening to German

brass bands and the authorities have simply taken the view that it would be

far too great a risk to public health to let it continue yes the biggest beer

festival in the world and also the most well-known has been canceled obviously

lots of people sitting right next to each other in a tent drinking beer is

not very good for social distancing so the event is off okay well you've been

looking at this story and you have picked out three words and expressions

that we can use to talk about it what have you got

yes we have iconic bitter pill and scrapped iconic bitter pill and scrap so

let's start them with your first headline please and we're going to the

United States first the headline is from WH IO TV 7 and it reads coronavirus

germany cancels iconic oktoberfest amid pandemic iconic very famous

represents an idea yes I see oh I see and if something is iconic it's really

well known and it represents a classic of a particular group so for

example if you think about world monuments all over the world

kneel which wand springs to mind immediately oh wow probably the Eiffel

Tower yes Eiffel Tower a lot of people know this it's an iconic world monument

so it's very very well known it's also iconic of Paris you know if you think of

Paris you think of the Eiffel Tower so something that's iconic very well-known

it's classic and it really represents that particular group that it belongs to

so when it comes to beer festivals the Oktoberfest in Germany is known very

very well around the world lots of people go to it lots of visitors go to

it you can what what do you think of when you think Oktoberfest near what's

an image in your mind I think huge litre glasses Stein of beer

and those brass bands playing and sausages sausages sausages yes so it's

really well known because of its dot because of it the way it is the things

people do its reputation images around it so something that's iconic really

represents its its class if you like now there's a sort of religious component to

this word as well isn't there from that word icon which is in the adjective

iconic yes now the Oktoberfest isn't about religion I don't think it has

religious connotations but in religious terms an icon is a statue or a picture

of a very important religious figure often a saint so again it's this idea of

representing something of importance and there's another use of icon as well just

a noun icon I see om Neel if you look at your

computer can you see any icons oh yes my my desktop is covered in icons there's

one that I click on for my email there's one that I click on to open a web

browser yeah what does it look cute little your web browser icon well

it's a kind of symbol that represents the thing that will happen when I click

on it right yes so you've got a paintbrush that represents changing the

color of things having a little paintbrush symbol that's right yeah and

cons yes I can see how much battery is left from a little battery icon little

battery icon yeah so icons are also symbols this idea of representing

something on your computer that show you what each function does when you click

on the icon so useful word icon yes it is and let's have a summary of that

useful word now time for our second headline please Katherine yes we are now

going to the Guardian in the UK the headline bitter pill barbarian councils

Oktoberfest over fears of coronavirus spread

bitter pill unpleasant but necessary yes now near taste let's talk about taste

what's your favorite flavor of things what do you like to eat well I suppose I

like sweet or savory things yeah you know things that make your mouth water

yes sweets chocolate yeah things that put a smile on your face when you eat

them cheese love it yeah okay because they've got nice sweet savory flavors

but the opposite of sweet is a very unpleasant taste isn't there something

that's bitter kind of bitter sour if you imagine the expression on someone's face

when they sink their teeth into a lemon yeah it's not it's not a pleasant

experience do you do your bitter face my yeah I've just done it okay yeah yes

bitter bi TT ER refers to a taste or flavor that's very unpleasant

now I'm pill neol as well do you like taking pills well I wouldn't say I

like taking them but what they do is make you feel better generally even if

you dislike the experience yes P i double-l is like it's an it the medicine

that comes in tablet form is another word for pill is tablet and you take

this medicine even though you don't like the taste often because it has a benefit

or because you have to take it so I remember when I was small Neil I had

when I needed some kind of tablets my mum used to crush them up and mix it

with Jam because I didn't like the taste the taste of the pills was bitter it was

a bitter pill so it made me better I knew I had to eat it but I didn't like

it a bitter pill is something that you have to do essentially yeah and your

example there was a literal example we use it figuratively for example perfect

example at the moment this lockdown is a bitter pill yes there are a lot of

things that we're having to do right now we don't like doing them but we have to

do them because in these cases often it's a health and safety things so a

bitter pill the expression a bitter pill or a bitter pill to swallow means that

something you don't want to do it but you have to either because it will have

a benefit or because you have no alternative it's not what you want to do

but you have to do it ok well let's have a summary of that word bitter pill

if you would like to see another story that contains that sense of a bitter

pill something you have to do even if you don't want to we have one for you

don't we Catherine we do now this one is about combating the effects of global

warming it's saying that rich countries must pay more to stop global warming to

help poor countries some people say that's a bitter pill to see more click

the link ok brilliant now time for our final headline please and illness have

line comes from Radio France international it reads Germany's

Oktoberfest scrubbed over virus in blow to beer industry scrapped not continued

canceled yes CRA double PE D pronunciation scrapped

interestingly it's a sound at the end scrapped yes that's right now to scrap

something what does that mean if you scrap something you get rid of it

because you no longer needed or you it's no longer fit for purpose you can't use

it anymore usually because it's old or broken so you might have a piece of

equipment in your kitchen that no longer works you don't want it anymore you

can't do anything with it so you scrap it you throw it away maybe to the

recycling but it's gone because it's useless it doesn't work anymore so

that's when you scrap something as a verb the adjective and the past simple

form are scrapped so you can scrap things literal objects that don't work

anymore or you don't want them anymore you can also scrap plans or ideas if you

scrap a plan you had a plan but you've decided not to do it anymore usually

because it's no longer possible you had an idea that we had to scrapped India

neo I remember it very well people may remember that I was obsessed with this

idea of developing a English course for cats English for cats episode word

went down like a lead balloon we made one episode and nobody liked it and so

we scrapped it was granted we scrub the rest of English my cats

nevermind Neal it was fun while it lasted I liked it

ok let's have a summary of that word scrap time now for a summary of the

words we've looked at today please yes we had iconic very famous representing a

particular idea bitter pill unpleasant but necessary scrapped not continued or

cancelled why not test yourself on this vocabulary there's a quiz on our website

BBC learning english.com goodbye stay safe bye