Hello and welcome to The English
We Speak. I''m Feifei.
And I'm Roy! Hey, Feifei, do you
fancy doing some karaoke tonight
with me and Rob?
No, I do not. The last time we
went out with Rob, you two
managed to upset everyone.
Everyone left. He is tone deaf!
His singing is not that bad!
His mum says he's got
a lovely voice!
No, Roy. While tone deaf can
relate to someone who can't
hear notes and has difficulty
singing - like you - it can also
mean someone who is unaware
or insensitive to a situation.
Ahhh - so you mean that fact
that Rob said that he prefers
cats during the annual dog
welfare meeting.
Yes, that was a bit off.
He always says the wrong
things at the wrong time!
He really is tone deaf.
Let's listen to these examples.
People who say they've enjoyed
lockdown can sound a bit tone deaf.
So many people have lost their jobs.
We've all been working so hard - the
boss seemed tone deaf when
he rejected our pay rise.
I can't believe Sarah said she
doesn't believe in global warming
to those activists. She's tone deaf.
This is The English We Speak from
BBC Learning English, and we're
talking about the expression 'tone deaf'.
It can be used to describe someone
who can't sing, but also has
a secondary meaning that refers
to someone who can't understand
the sensitive nature of a situation.
Yes. It's an interesting development
of the meaning. So, 'deaf' refers to
someone who can't hear, while
'tone deaf' describes someone
who can't hear different
tones or sounds.
Yes, that's right. And the new
meaning is for someone who
says the wrong thing at the
wrong time - like Rob.
Yes - it sometimes gets used
to refer to authority figures who
say something that seems to be
out-of-touch with a certain situation.
That's right! And, Roy, please don't
sing tonight. You really are tone deaf
when it comes to singing.
Your singing makes dogs bark.
Yeah, maybe that's for the best.
But then I think the dogs just
want to be in the same band
as me. I could create a new
band called 'Roy and the Dogs'.
I can't believe you just said
that! I just formed a band called
'Feifei and the Cats' - your
comment was tone deaf. Bye, Roy.
Bye!