Ukraine: Fears of invasion: BBC News Review

There are fears that Russia is about to invade Ukraine.

I'm Neil and this is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Joining me today is Roy. Hello Roy.

Hello Neil and hello everybody.

If you would like to test yourself on the vocabulary around this story,

all you need to do is head to our website

bbclearningenglish.com to take a quiz.

But now, let's hear more about this story from this BBC News report:

So, several countries have now said

that a Russian invasion of Ukraine

could happen at any time.

This follows several countries advising their citizens to leave Ukraine

and the evacuation of some embassies.

Now, you've been looking at the various news websites, at this story.

You've picked out some vocabulary that's useful for understanding the story.

What have you got?

We have 'full-blown', 'chillingly silent' and 'false flag'.

'Full-blown', 'chillingly silent' and 'false flag'.

So, let's have a look at your first headline please, Roy.

OK. So, our first headline comes from The Express and it reads:

'Full-blown' — fully developed.

OK. So, this is 'full-blown'.

First word: F-U-L-L.

Second word: 'blown' — B-L-O-W-N.

There is a hyphen in the middle and it is being used as an adjective.

And what it means is something that is fully developed or fully formed.

Yeah. OK. As you said there, it's a sort of set expression:

'full-blown' — not 'fully blown', like you might think,

but 'full-blown'. So, what's the feeling of this piece of vocabulary?

Why do we use it?

OK. So, in the terms of the headline, what we're using it as,

it says 'full-blown conflict' and what it means is

it's not just a small attack, not something minor.

This is a fully realised attack.

A fully realised war. 'Full-blown' basically means fully developed.

Yeah. And it's a useful little set expression, isn't it?

It is, because we can use it outside of the context of war obviously.

For example, two colleagues in the office —

they may start having some kind of minor disagreement.

They say, 'No, that was you.' 'No, that was you.'

And before long, it becomes a bigger fight

and we can say that it developed into a 'full-blown' argument.

Yeah. So, as your example showed there,

we can use it for something as significant

and worrying as a war,

but we can also use it to describe a dispute

or an argument between two people.

Absolutely. Now, what is interesting...

We... we can also use it to talk about the pandemic.

We used it quite often to talk about the pandemic and other very serious things.

So, at first, we started talking about an outbreak, a small outbreak,

and before long it became a 'full-blown' pandemic.

Yeah, and I guess that's the sense contained in this expression:

that something that was small

becomes something which is enormous.

Yes. Now, interestingly to say,

we've used mainly negative meanings of 'full-blown' here,

but you can also use it not negatively.

However, we do commonly use it negatively,

because we can, sort of, exaggerate the severity or the drama of something.

So, to really emphasise how big something is, that it is at its limit.

But, in a positive note, you could say:

'Oh, I invited a few friends over for a couple of drinks and a chat

and before long, lots of other people arrived

and it became a full-blown party.'

OK. Well, let's get a summary:

If you're interested in stories about international relations,

we have a video about companies vs. countries in a legal sense.

What do our viewers have to do, Roy?

All you need to do is click the link in the description below.

Let's have a look at your second headline.

OK. So, our second headline comes from The Independent and it reads:

'Chillingly silent' — frighteningly quiet.

So, this is a two-word expression.

First word: 'chillingly' — C-H-I-L-L-I-N-G-L-Y.

Second word: 'silent' — S-I-L-E-N-T.

Now, 'silent' of course means quiet or no noise,

and 'chillingly' means unsettling.

It makes you feel uncomfortable or scary.

Now, Roy, I thought that something that was 'chilling' was cold —

physically cold.

You know, that word 'chilly' means cold.

So, what's the connection between 'silence' and temperature?

Yeah. OK. So, there is an idea of 'chill' being cold.

So, for example, you could say there is 'a chill in the air' if the...

if the day is very cold or it's... 'Ooh, it's chilly today!'

Or, for example, like for that 'full-blown' party,

you could put some drinks in the fridge

to 'chill' them — to make them feel cold.

But in this sense, 'chillingly' — it means frighteningly or scarily,

or it makes you feel uncomfortable.

Yes, because being cold is an uncomfortable experience,

but it is connected here figuratively to feeling, kind of, scared.

Yeah. So, for example, you could say

that a horror film is 'chilling', if it's very, very scary,

or if somebody tells you a story that makes you feel very uncomfortable

or scared or frightening,

we can say that that story is a 'chilling' story.

Yeah, and so the sense in the headline here

is that the 'silence' from China is worrying.

Yes. And interestingly, we do have another expression,

don't we, related to this? About your... your spine, Neil.

Yes, that's right. If something is really scary,

we can say: 'It sends a chill down your spine'.

Or a 'shiver' — a 'shiver' is something that you do...

when you are cold, so we can see that metaphorically,

figuratively, cold is connected to fear.

Yeah, very much so. So, yeah, if something's very scary:

'Ooh! Sends a shiver down my spine!'

OK. Let's get a summary:

Talking of 'silence', we have a lesson on the silent E

that you will find sometimes in English words.

Where can our viewers find it, Roy?

All you need to do is click the link in the description below.

OK. Let's have a look at our next headline.

OK. So, our next headline comes from 'The i' and it reads:

'False flag' — invented excuse for an attack.

Yes. So, this is a two-word expression.

The first word: 'false' — F-A-L-S-E.

Second word: 'flag' — F-L-A-G.

And it's basically saying an invented excuse or a creative reason

for some kind of action or attack.

Yeah, OK. And if we break it down,

we've got the word 'false', which obviously means not real,

and 'flag' — 'flag' is a material banner

that is used to indicate a country, for example.

So, together, what's the meaning here?

The origins of this expression are not 100% clear,

but it relates strongly to deception.

Now, what a number of countries and media outlets are saying is

that Russia will create a reason to justify an attack.

Basically saying that Russia will create an excuse to invade Ukraine

and that's according to some of the speculation in the media.

Yeah. OK. So, it's... in a sense,

it's kind of false labelling, isn't it?

Yes, that's... that's exactly it.

Now, we don't only use it in... in the terms and context of war.

We can also use it sometimes in politics.

Now, if somebody is running for office

and they're going for a political position,

you can sometimes say that they're running under a 'false flag' of policies.

So, if they say, for example,

that they believe heavily in environmental issues,

but really they don't — they have a secondary agenda —

they're running under a 'false flag'.

Yeah. And that's related, but slightly different, to the meaning...

meaning that we're talking about here in this headline.

That is about deceiving people again,

but it's not about provoking an attack.

Mainly, we don't use this outside of the context of war and politics.

That's one thing to say.

So, for example, you wouldn't say in the office:

'Oh, my boss was running under a false flag,' or something like this.

It's very, very strange. You may say that my...

my boss hid their true intentions.

So, mainly we say... we talk about 'false flags'

related to conflict, war or politics.

OK. Let's get a summary:

Time now, Roy, for a recap of the vocabulary please.

Yes, we had 'full-blown' — fully developed.

We had a 'chillingly silent' — frighteningly quiet.

And we had 'false flag' — invented excuse for an attack.

If you want to test yourself on the vocabulary,

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

and we... we are all over social media as well.

Thanks for joining us and goodbye.

Bye.