ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ሰላም፡ እንቋዕ ናብዚ ብእንግዝኛ ዝቐርብ ሓቀኛ ዛንታት ሰሚዕኩም ንክትርድኡ ዝሕግዘኩም መደብ Listen Here ብደሓን  መጻእኩም። ኣነ ተክለማርያም በኪት ኢየ።

James
And I’m James! Hi everybody!

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ሎሚ ብዛዕባ wealth ሃብቲ ከምኡውን status ማሕበራዊ ደረጃ ክንዛረብ ኢና። So James, how do people in the UK show their wealth or status?

James
Well, in many different ways! The clothes they wear, the cars they drive, the shops they visit or the size or location of their house. How about in your country?

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
ኣብ ሃገርና ብወርቅን ጨርቅን መንኪና ብምግዛእን ገዛ ብምውናን ሃብቶም የንጸባርቁ።

ኣብ ቀዳማይ ክፋል ናይ ሎሚ መደብና፡ ኣዳላዊት መዝገብ-ቓላት ዝነበረት ደዚይ ደንት፡ ቀደም  ጨው ብኸመይ ንማሕበራዊ ደረጃ የንጸባርቕ ከም ዝነበረ ክትገልጽ እንከላ ንሰማዕ። መዓስ ተጀሚሩ ትብል።

Insert
If you look in the Oxford English dictionary, there are just entry after entry which clearly reflects how important it (salt) has been. But it also became a great symbol of social wealth and social status. You’ll find this in medieval times right up to the 18th century.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
Wow, salt was important in medieval times. But it’s so common nowadays!

James
That’s true! Salt was very expensive, and was therefore a way to show you were wealthy, that you could afford salt.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
Afford ማለት ዓቕሚ ገንዘብ ዘለዎ ማለት ኢዩ።Let’s listen on - how was salt used to show people’s social status?

Insert
The rank of guests at a banquet for example was gauged by exactly where they sat in relation to a silver salt cellar that was placed on the table. The distinguished guests would sit at the head of the table, above the salt, and people who sat below the salt, furthest away from the host, were the ones who were least important.

James
So the closer to the salt that people were sat, the more important they were! Two common phrases we use in English because of this are above the salt and below the salt – meaning ‘important’ or ‘not important’.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
Above the salt ማለት ዝለዓለ ክብሪ ዘለዎም ሰባት ማለት ኢዩ። , below the salt ተራ ኣባል ማሕበረሰብ ማለት ኢዩ።Let’s keep listening to find more of these expressions.

Insert
If you look at Shakespeare, for example, you will find salt as a symbol of liveliness and freshness. So Shakespeare talks about the salt of youth. 

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
So someone who is lively,ሕጉስ ከምኡ’ውንpassionate,ርሱን ስምዒት ዘሎዎ,about their job for example has the salt of youth?

James
Exactly! Let’s listen for more.

Insert
And of course in the Bible you’ll find ‘the salt of the earth’, people who have great kindness and integrity.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
Salt of the earth ንሓደ kind ርሕሩሕ ከምኡ’ውን integrity ቅኑዕ ሰብ ይገልጽ።

James
Yes! People who do things for others are the salt of the earth. But that seems strange! Nowadays, salt is something which people try to avoid. A salty diet is not very good for you.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
Has this changed the way that people use the word salt, James?

James
Yes, in fact it has! Let’s listen to the next part of the recording. What does the presenter say about how we think about salt nowadays?

Insert
But now, modern times there’s been a shift in that, you know, we demonise it now as a bad thing.

Yes, actually in slang we might just be able to detect that downturn because salty now, in slang, means irritable really or hostile even.

James
The speaker says we demonise salt. Demonise means to make something seem evil.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
Salty ማለት ንሓደ aggressive ህውከተኛ ወይ bitter መሪር ሰብ ትገልጽ። So, have the phrases we use with salt changed with people’s opinions?

James
That’s right – people’s attitudes to salt are now quite salty!

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
Are there any other negative phrases with ‘salt’?

James
To rub salt in the wound means to make someone who is already sad or upset feel even worse.

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
To rub salt in the wound ንዘሎ ጸገም ካብቲ ዘለዎ ንላዕሊ ዝገደደ ምግባር ማለት ኢዩ። ጠሚኹም እንከሎኹም፡ ሓደ ሰብ ኣብ ቅድመኹም ፒዛ እንተበሊዑ፡ ነቲ ዘሎ ጸገም ካብቲ ዘለዎ ንላዕሊ ይግድዶ ማለት ድዩ?

James
Yes! That would definitely rub salt in the wound! It would just make me even more hungry!

ኣቕራቢቋንቋትግርኛ
How about you? Do you have a salty attitude to salt? Are you salt of the earth? Here are some other phrases we learnt today – above the saltዝለዓለ ክብሪ ዘለዎም ሰባት፥ below the saltተራ ኣባል ማሕበረሰብ ማለት ኢዩ። To rub salt in the woundንዘሎ ጸገም ካብቲ ዘለዎ ንላዕሊ ዝገደደ ምግባር ማለት ኢዩ። ከምኡ’ውንThe salt of youthንሓደ ሓይሊን ብርቱዕ ስምዒት ዘለዎ ሰብ ይገልጽ።Thanks for joining us and see you next week for more Listen Here!