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22 November 2013

Language learning by innuendo

The word “nuts” has more than one meaning in English. I therefore wondered what the BBC meant when they posted this headline today: “Eating nuts ‘may prolong life’”.
     One meaning of the word relates to the food that monkeys are said to enjoy. Another is more slangy, and is perhaps more politely conveyed by innuendo. There are others, but in order to learn at least these two a good way might be memorise the following simple sentence: “Eating nuts may prolong life, but nailing them to the cobbles in Red Square will surely shorten it.”
     Is that clear?


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