Neil: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. My name's Neil.

Helen: (Sigh) And I'm Helen.

Neil: Oh Helen, that was a very heavy sigh.

Helen: A heavy sigh? By that, you mean a big sigh?! Well, I suppose it was. It's just I've been trying to lose some weight but my diet is not working.

Neil: So how heavy are you exactly?

Helen: I'm not going to tell you my weight!

Neil: OK but my advice is to cut down on the biscuits, eat more fruit and stick to the diet!

Helen: Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Neil: Sorry, am I getting too heavy?

Helen: Heavy? You mean you're putting on weight too?

Neil: No! Heavy can have another meaning. Used informally, it can mean serious or intense. Have a listen to this:

• Our relationship's getting a bit heavy. I think we need to go out more and have a bit more fun.

Neil: And another informal use of the word can mean difficult.

• That was a heavy lecture! I had trouble understanding it all.

Helen: A heavy lecture – I've been to a few of them!

Neil: Me too. But Helen, we can also use the word 'heavy' in a more formal way to mean 'intense':

• There was such a heavy fog I couldn't see where I was going.
• The flooding was caused by days of heavy rain.
• Heavy fighting broke out after the government's announcement.

Helen: So heavy in those examples also means intense, bad or strong. What about a heavy drinker or a heavy smoker? What does that mean?

Neil: Heavy here means to indulge to a great extent.

Helen: Well that's not me – but there is one kind of 'heavy' I do like to indulge in.

Neil: And what's that?

Helen: Heavy metal!

(Turns on heavy metal music)

Neil: (shouting) That's a little heavy on my ears. Turn it down! What a noise!