Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.
00:01
Hello and welcome to The English
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We Speak. I''m Feifei.
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And I'm Roy! Hey, Feifei, do you
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fancy doing some karaoke tonight
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with me and Rob?
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No, I do not. The last time we
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went out with Rob, you two
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managed to upset everyone.
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Everyone left. He is tone deaf!
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His singing is not that bad!
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His mum says he's got
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a lovely voice!
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No, Roy. While tone deaf can
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relate to someone who can't
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hear notes and has difficulty
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singing - like you - it can also
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mean someone who is unaware
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or insensitive to a situation.
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Ahhh - so you mean that fact
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that Rob said that he prefers
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cats during the annual dog
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welfare meeting.
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Yes, that was a bit off.
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He always says the wrong
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things at the wrong time!
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He really is tone deaf.
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Let's listen to these examples.
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People who say they've enjoyed
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lockdown can sound a bit tone deaf.
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So many people have lost their jobs.
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We've all been working so hard - the
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boss seemed tone deaf when
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he rejected our pay rise.
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I can't believe Sarah said she
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doesn't believe in global warming
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to those activists. She's tone deaf.
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This is The English We Speak from
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BBC Learning English, and we're
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talking about the expression 'tone deaf'.
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It can be used to describe someone
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who can't sing, but also has
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a secondary meaning that refers
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to someone who can't understand
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the sensitive nature of a situation.
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Yes. It's an interesting development
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of the meaning. So, 'deaf' refers to
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someone who can't hear, while
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'tone deaf' describes someone
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who can't hear different
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tones or sounds.
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Yes, that's right. And the new
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meaning is for someone who
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says the wrong thing at the
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wrong time - like Rob.
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Yes - it sometimes gets used
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to refer to authority figures who
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say something that seems to be
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out-of-touch with a certain situation.
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That's right! And, Roy, please don't
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sing tonight. You really are tone deaf
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when it comes to singing.
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Your singing makes dogs bark.
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Yeah, maybe that's for the best.
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But then I think the dogs just
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want to be in the same band
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as me. I could create a new
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band called 'Roy and the Dogs'.
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I can't believe you just said
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that! I just formed a band called
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'Feifei and the Cats' - your
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comment was tone deaf. Bye, Roy.
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Bye!
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