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 and welcome to the English We Speak, I'm Faithful, and hello, I'm Rob. Rob, what's the smell? Are you cooking something? Yes, it's my favorite roast beef, yummy roast beef.

[00:00:40]

This isn't really the time to be cooking. Well, you said let's do roast today, so I thought I'd make a start. Just got to do the roast potatoes. Now, Rob, stop.

[00:00:53]

I meant let's do the word roast. Oh, right. Well, this is a good example of roasting.

[00:01:03]

No, Rob, it's not the meaning I had in mind. Roasting is not just about cooking food in an oven. We can roast people by criticizing them harshly. So, Rob, you were very foolish to start cooking something while we're presenting a program.

[00:01:21]

Oh, am I being roasted now?

[00:01:25]

You sure are, but you're not alone. Here are some examples.

[00:01:30]

Maybe we had to roast the teacher after she was seen shopping when she was supposed to be off work with flu. After my PowerPoint presentation froze during an important meeting, my boss gave me a roasting. She was roasted by her friends after she posted pictures of herself on social media showing off her amazing suntan.

[00:01:57]

Mean this is the English.

[00:02:00]

We speak from BBC Learning English, and we're talking about the word roast, which means to criticize severely. I'm sure you're used to being roasted, Rob, huh?

[00:02:13]

Well, if you mean I am hot and smell delicious, then I am very roasted.

[00:02:19]

Excuse me. They say another meaning of roast is to tease someone in a light hearted way or give a funny comeback when someone tries to humiliate you. Oh, ha.

[00:02:33]

But hold on, Rob. I can smell something else.

[00:02:37]

Oh no. I left the oven on and now the food is burning. Oh, help.

[00:02:43]

Rob, you are really stupid and you can't cook either. Hmm. That's me. Roasted by. By.