Transcribe your podcast
[00:00:00]

Hello and welcome to this podcast from the BBC World Service. Please let us know what you think and tell other people about us on social media. Podcasts from the BBC World Service are supported by advertising.

[00:00:13]

This is a download from BBC Learning English to find out more. Visit our website. Hello, this is the English we speak with me, Fay, Fay, and hello, it's me, Rob. Hey, Rob, you look a bit fed up.

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Oh, I am. I had tickets to see Roy's rolling biscuits next week, but now the gig has been cancelled.

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Cancelled, meaning a planned activity will not happen.

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Well, lots of things have been cancelled at the moment, but this was the biscuits, you know, the best band ever.

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Well, Rob, to be honest, I cancelled them a long time ago.

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What, you had tickets and you cancelled them?

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No, Rob, this is another meaning of cancelled. I didn't like the bad language in the band's songs, so I stopped supporting them.

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I cancelled them. Oh, yep. When you cancel someone, you don't agree with what they do or say and you stop supporting or promoting them. This particularly relates to celebrities. So if you don't like someone, cancel them.

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OK, they say, let's hear some examples.

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I was a big supporter of our local mayor until he agreed to build the bypass. I've cancelled him now. My favorite singer started singing anti climate change songs, she's canceled as far as I'm concerned. Cancel culture means we can shame celebrities on social media when they have controversial opinions. This is the English we speak from BBC, Learn English, and we're talking about a new meaning of the word canceled. Cancelling someone means to stop supporting or following someone, particularly a public figure, because of something they have said or done.

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It's also known as a council culture.

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So you've counselled supporting Roy's role in Biscuit's. My gig has been cancelled. So what am I going to do now?

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Hmm. What about trying to get tickets for that other band?

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You like the bananas? No, no. I'm cancelling them because their tickets are always too expensive.

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Oh, dear. Rob, it looks like you'll be having a quiet night in by.

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What are you doing tonight? Fafi by.