Killer salt?: BBC News Review

Adding salt to food can take years off your life.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil. And I'm Beth.

And we have lots of language about this story in today's programme.

We do. And remember, subscribe to our channel, like this video,

and try the quiz on our website.

Now, today's story.

Salt. It makes everything taste better, but it's also killing people.

New research has found that adding salt to your meal may reduce your life

by two years.

But the good news is that

even a small reduction in salt can make a big difference to your health.

You've been looking at the headlines,

Beth. What's the vocabulary?

We have 'deadly', 'knock off', and 'teatime'.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look now at a first headline. This one comes from US News.

So the word

we are looking at is 'deadly'. And Beth,

there's a big clue in the first part of that word

'dead'. Yes, we see in this headline that's the salt shaker -

that's the thing you pour salt on to your food with - may be deadly.

Now, that's an adjective, and

it just means 'likely to kill'.

Yeah. And we see this word often in connection with substances, diseases,

dangerous situations, and animals.

Isn't that right? Yeah.

So, for example, a deadly spider is one that can kill you.

But like so many of the words we look at in News Review,

it has another, very different meaning, and

I'm deadly serious about that.

There we go, Neil. Yep, 'deadly', as you've used it

there, means 'completely', and we often use it with dull, boring and serious.

'Deadly dull'.

'Deadly boring'. 'Deadly serious'.

You do look a bit serious

there Neil.

Sorry, I was just thinking about that deadly spider. And get ready for the bonus word

now, Beth. Spiders are dead scary.

They are, you are dead right, Neil.

So some people use 'dead' in this way too.

Especially if they are from the north of England, and it can mean

'completely' or 'very'. 'Dead right'.

'Dead easy'. 'Dead interesting'.

Yes. And what's really interesting, or dead interesting, about this use is

that we use it for good things, so 'dead easy'.

Yeah, or dead good, but we don't say 'deadly easy' or 'deadly

good'. Best to keep 'deadly' for dull, boring or serious things.

Let's take another look at that.

Let's have a look at our next

like this one is from nine News in Australia.

We are looking at the phrasal verb

'knock off'. And it's a phrasal verb,

so, unfortunately, it's got lots of different meanings.

Yeah. You're right. But in this headline,

it just means 'reduce'.

Let's think literally.

Imagine you have a pile of things,

say books,

and you knock one off the top. That happens.

Yeah. And so the size of the pile is smaller.

It's reduced.

Exactly. So in this headline,

we see that too much salt can knock years off your life.

It can reduce the number of years

you live. That doesn't sound too good.

We can also knock a few pounds off the price of something. So,

for example, if I'm selling this beautiful luxury

watch, and you think it's too expensive.

That's right. Can you knock ten pounds off it?

I want him to reduce the price. I'll think about it.

Talking of selling watches, it's got another meaning, hasn't it?

Yeah, we can also use 'knock off' as a single word, with

or without a hyphen, and this time

it means 'a cheap,

possibly illegal copy of a real product'.

So, actually Neil,

I don't think I want that watch. It's a knock off. How dare you?

Let's have another look at that.

Our next headline, then, please.

This one comes from The Sun.

We're looking at 'teatime'.

This is easy enough.

It's the time when you have tea.

Everybody knows what tea is.

But you don't put salt in it.

Well, that depends,

Neil. Tea is,

of course, a drink, and you definitely don't want to put salt in it,

but tea is also a meal.

Teatime is traditionally a small meal in the afternoon

with tea and cake. Yes,

but there is more to tea, and this is where it can get quite confusing,

because depending on where you live, tea means different things. Beth,

you are for the north of England.

I am. And I call the meal that I have in the evening,

my main meal, tea.

So I would say:

'Do you want to come round for tea?'

Neil, you're from the south of England, aren't you?

Yes, I'm from the south, and I call my main meal in the evening 'dinner'

and I would ask somebody if they want to come for dinner?

So, teatime

can be an afternoon meal or an evening meal. Though

not everyone uses 'teatime' in this way.

Let's take a look at that one more time.

We've had 'deadly' -

it can kill you. 'Knock off' - reduce,

and 'teatime' - a meal

for some in the afternoon or the evening.

Don't forget there's a quiz on our website.

Thank you for joining us and see you next time,

goodbye. Bye.