Beth Welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Beth.
Feifei And I’m Feifei.
Beth We have a word used when something is a disappointment. It’s the noun ‘blow’ in ‘a blow’.
Feifei ‘a blow’. Can you give us some context, Beth?
Beth Well, I’ve been trying to buy a new car. I saw one I really liked, and I was just about to buy it, but I’ve just found out that it sold yesterday. It’s a bit of a blow.
Feifei It does sound like a blow. How disappointing. A similar thing happened to me when I was looking for a flat. I made an offer, but someone made a higher offer, so I missed out.
Beth What a blow! This word is especially used when something hasn’t gone the way you imagined and has ruined your plans.
Feifei And it’s often used when something is delayed, cancelled or fails. Did you find your phone by the way? I heard you lost it.
Beth No. So, I’ve lost all my pictures and contacts. It’s a blow. Let’s hear some more examples.
Examples We didn’t get the funding so the project can’t go ahead. It’s a blow.
It was a bit of a blow when they found out the festival was cancelled.
We’d made a lunch reservation for 1pm so it was a blow when the train was delayed until 1.30.
Feifei You’re listening to The English We Speak from BBC Learning English, and we are learning the word ‘blow’ in ‘a blow’, which is a way of saying something has happened that is disappointing.
Beth ‘Blow’ can also be used as a verb in the phrase ‘it blows’ to express something annoying, though this isn’t as common. For example, it blows that I didn’t get the car I wanted.
Feifei Definitely. By the way, Neil is selling a car. Did you know?
Beth Yes. It’s a nice one, but far too expensive for me!
Feifei Another blow. Oh well. Good luck finding one. See you next time!
Beth Bye.