Prices rise across the world: BBC News Review

Prices are rising around the world.

Now, interest rates are going up to deal with the crisis.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil. And I'm Beth.

And we'll be looking at the vocabulary being used to talk

about the global economy.

Remember, there's a quiz on a website about the vocabulary in this programme.

But now some more on that story.

Food and energy prices are rising across the world,

meaning millions now face tough choices in their daily lives.

Economists blame a combination of Covid, the war in Ukraine, and poor harvests.

Now, central banks are putting up interest rates

to try to control the crisis.

You've been looking at the headlines.

What's the vocabulary?

We have 'the spectre of something', 'into the mire' and 'tightrope'.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This one comes from The Guardian:

Now, the expression that we're looking at

is 'the spectre of something'. A spectre is a ghost, isn't it?

Yeah, that's absolutely right.

And you're probably wondering, Neil:

Why are we talking about ghosts?

Yeah. I am

Is it because a ghost is a scary thing?

Well, yes it is. 'The spectre of something' is the possibility

of something bad happening.

So, in this case,

it's a possible recession.

So, for example, we could talk about the spectre of climate change

or the spectre of nuclear war.

These are really serious things,

but could we use this for more light hearted situations?

For example, the spectre of my dentist appointment next week.

No, not really.

We use this expression for unpleasant things that may happen in the future

and will probably happen to a lot of people. And, by the way,

there's a spelling difference.

So, 'spectre' in British English ends in

're', but in the US it finishes with 'er'.

  OK, let's have a look at that again.

Time now for our next headline.

This one comes from City A.M.

The expression here is 'into the mire'. And the mire is an area of muddy,

dirty, swampy ground - difficult to move through.

You can get stuck. Yeah. That's right.

But in this case,

and in this headline,

we are not talking about a physical place,

but we're talking about a tricky or difficult situation.

So if the global markets are in the mire,

it means they're in a bad situation.

Can we talk about people, though,

using this expression 'into the mire' or 'mired in something'?

Yes, we can and we do very often hear this with politicians.

So if there is some kind of political scandal,

we can say that the politician is mired in scandal, and there is an element

of them doing something bad or they've done something unpleasant.

OK. Let's take a look at that again.

Now for our next headline, please.

This one comes from The Indian Express.

'Tightrope'. Beth,

have you ever been to the circus?

Oh, I have when I was a child,

but I really didn't like the clowns. What's wrong with the clowns?

Do you know what I really like,

though? It's that act where you walk along a rope.

You could fall off.

There's danger on either side.

Now that is called a tightrope. And in the headline,

we saw 'tightrope' used to talk about a situation

where even a little mistake can lead to disaster.

So, what the headline writer is saying is

that dealing with inflation can be very difficult to do successfully.

There is risk. There is danger.

There is also a longer version of this expression 'to walk a tightrope'.

That's right.

And 'to walk a tightrope' is to deal with a very difficult situation.

So, imagine that you're planning a wedding.

You've got to think about who you're going to invite, and also how much money

do you have? Yeah.

And who are you gonna leave off that guest list?

OK, let's have a look at that again.

We have had 'the spectre

of something' - a bad thing

that is coming your way. 'Into the mire' -

in a bad, difficult, perhaps scandalous situation.

And a 'tightrope' - a small mistake and everything could go wrong.

So' don't get stuck in the mire with your English. Head over

to our website or app where you can practise all of the vocabulary

from this programme with a quiz.

And there's more examples there as well.

Thank you for joining us, and goodbye. Bye.