Beirut explosion protest: BBC News Review

Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil – joining me is Catherine. Hi Catherine!

Hello Neil, hello everybody!

And today's story comes from Beirut in Lebanon,

where people have been protesting

following the huge explosion that happened recently.

If you would like to test yourself on the vocabulary,

there's a quiz on our website at bbclearningenglish.com

but now let's hear more about that story from Beirut

with this report from BBC News:

Yes, people have been protesting on the streets in Beirut

after the huge explosion that killed over 200 people

and injured thousands.

People are angry that nobody in the government

has taken responsibility:

they're asking for people to quit.

OK. Well, the media has been covering

this story extensively.

What are the words that are being used?

Yes, we're looking at: 'the fall of', 'rage' and 'to topple'.

'The fall of', 'rage' and 'to topple'.

So, let's hear your first headline please

with that expression 'the fall of' something.

Of course. So, we're in the UK to start off with

and the Guardian Newspaper – the headline is:

The fall of something: the end of a position of power.

That's right – the fall of.

Now, that's a three word expression.

'The' – T-H-E.

'Fall' – F-A-L-L.

And the preposition 'of', spelt O-F – single 'F' there.

Now, in the headline the word 'the' is missing.

This is normal. Headline writers do this all the time:

they drop articles – words like 'a', 'an' and 'the'.

But the full expression is a fixed phrase: the fall of.

Now, people will probably know –

be familiar with the word 'fall' as a verb, meaning:

go from being in an upright position,

so standing for a person,

and then not standing – being on the floor.

Yes, it often happens by accident, doesn't it Neil?

You're walking along

and then you step on a banana skin,

the comedy banana skin,

and suddenly you're lying on the floor: you fell over.

We often used 'to fall over' or just 'to fall'.

So, from upright to flat on the ground – that's a fall.

We're using this verb – we're using it here

in an idiomatic sense: the fall of a person

or organisation from a position of power

means that they were powerful, they were strong,

they were influential, but now they're not.

They lost that position of power.

Often, they didn't want to but something happened

and now they're no longer powerful

or influential – excuse me!

We call that 'the fall of' whoever – the government,

the leader, the politician, the sportsperson.

We can talk about 'the fall of' meaning a loss of power

or position.

Often seen and used when referring to historical events

and regimes: you can hear about the fall of Rome,

for example.

Yes, that's right.

We talked about the fall of communist regimes

back in 1989. More recently, we've had

the fall of lots of governments and leaders

in the Middle East.

But, as you said, it's not just about

governments and politicians: we can refer to this –

you can use this expression to refer to people

who've got great authority in an area,

or success – like sportspeople.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, it's not just about... well it could be power,

but power in the sense of: people respect you,

people admire you, you're very successful in what you do.

So in the sporting world we can talk about

the fall of, for example, Tiger Woods the golfer,

who was very successful and respected.

Then there was some scandal around his personal life

and he lost a lot of respect. He lost...

Also, he started performing badly.

So he was at the top of his game

and then we saw the fall of Tiger Woods.

And then the rise again.

Yes! We have the fall, the rise...

No, the rise, the fall and the rise of Tiger Woods.

He's back on top at the moment.

OK. Let's have a summary of that:

OK. Before our next headline

we have a pronunciation tip.

That's right – we do, yes.

Now if you're interested in pronunciation of the 'F' sound

that we have at the beginning of 'fall',

if you click the link below you can go to a programme

that's all about the 'F' sound.

OK. Your next headline:

So, we're still in the UK with our second headline.

This one from The Times:

'Rage' – continue in an angry or violent way.

That's right. Now, 'rage' can be a verb

and it can also be a noun. It's spelt the same way:

four letters – R-A-G-E – rage.

And this is a word that describes great anger, doesn't it?

Great anger and great anger that's being expressed.

So, if you see somebody raging they're likely

to be shouting. They'll be probably moving their arms.

There'll be the clenched fist. There'll be lots of,

you know, maybe a red face or a white face or,

you know, lots of screaming and anger and violence

maybe, so it's a really extreme word for

a lot – a lot of anger and fury.

Yeah, and I think it's really important there,

what you said: it can be physical violence involved.

You could talk about a raging crowd rioting...

Yes. They might be breaking things and hurting people...

Yes, yes. But we could also say that people at a meeting

for the local council were raging.

Now, it doesn't mean that they were behaving violently

but they would be very angry.

Not always.

Yeah, the violence is, kind of, optional in raging.

I mean, I think in this, you know, some of these protests,

it does involve, you know, throwing things

and setting things on fire

but it could just be raised voices:

very, very angry people.

It doesn't always have to involve violence,

but it does always involve anger.

Yeah. A time when people often seem to get

really angry, at least in this country, is around driving,

so parking fines and speeding tickets

really get people into a rage.

Yes, and when other people are driving badly

or one driver A thinks driver B drove badly,

then driver A then starts behaving really badly

and shouting and making threats and aggressive

gestures. Well, there's a word for it actually:

we call it 'road rage'. Road rage.

Do you get road rage, Neil?

I can feel the anger rising but I don't go on a full rage,

I must say! I'm too scared.

Actually – well yes, you never know:

the other driver might be bigger than you.

Absolutely.

...or angrier!

Let's have a summary:

Well, we've been talking about anger and raging.

We've got a related expression, haven't we Catherine?

Yes. If you're not quite raging

but you do have a lot to say about the subject,

we can say that you are 'banging on about it'.

Now, to find out more about the expression

'bang on about' there's a link right there.

Click on that and you'll find out more.

And your next headline, please.

And yes, we're in the United States now.

Sunday TODAY – the headline:

'To topple' – to force a loss of power.

That's right. Two words now. First word: 'to' – T-O.

And the second word: 'topple' – T-O-P-P-L-E. 'To topple'.

There's a nice way of remembering what this means.

It's kind of in the word: the word 'top'.

Yes. Yes, 'top' meaning the opposite to the bottom.

It's up there. If something wobbles and falls

from the top, it 'topples',

so when something actually leaves the top

and falls to the floor it has been 'toppled'.

Yeah and we use this again to describe

the removal from power of someone or something.

That's right, yes. If a politician is forced out of power

by either events within his own organisation

or external events or protests we can say

that person has been 'toppled'.

It can – a person can be toppled,

or an organisation can be toppled,

but it's about being in the highest position

and then being forced to a lower position:

you are 'toppled'.

Yeah and we can also use this to talk about

non-political events, competitions,

sporting competitions – football matches, for example.

Again! Yes, the language of sporting, kind of, excellence

in sporting competitions is quite similar often

to the language of politics, interestingly.

So, we can talk about a football team

toppling another football team from its position

at the top of the league, which we saw recently

with – in the English Premier League.

Liverpool – the team Liverpool –

toppled Manchester United from their position

as the Premier League champions.

Man City.

Man City! Sorry everyone – I'm not a football fan.

You know what I really like about this word, Catherine,

is, as I said, it's got 'top' in it, so we have this sense of

something at the top and then

no longer being at the top.

But it also sounds a bit like 'wobble',

so it's like a 'top wobble' – a 'topple'.

'Toppled' – yes, it's a lovely word to say, actually,

the word 'topple'. It makes you think of kind of

a wobbling, wobbling movement – doesn't it?

I'm doing one now – I'm toppling.

I hope you don't fall over.

I'll try not to.

OK. Let's have a summary:

And time now for a recap of the vocabulary, please.

Yes, so we had 'the fall of (something)' –

the end of a position of power.

We had 'rage' – continue in an angry or violent way.

And finally 'to topple' to force a loss of power.

We are all over social media if you want more of us,

so check us out: BBC Learning English.

Until next week, stay safe and goodbye.

Stay safe everyone.