Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 263, Getting Older.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 263.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you.
You can also download a learning guide for this episode that contains all of the vocabulary definitions, cultural notes, additional explanations and a complete transcript of this episode.
In this episode, we're going to listen to a dialogue between two people who talking about what it is like to get older, something I think about every day.
Let's get started.
Oh, sorry.
What was I saying?
I lost my train of thought.
You were telling me about the book you're reading?
Oh, yeah.
I must have had one of those senior moments.
We're not over the hill.
You may be an old geezer, but I still like to think of myself as middle-aged.
Isn't seventy the new sixty?
That's what they say, but I don't mind aging.
I may be a little absent-minded now and then, but I'm not senile.
What I can't stand is being treated like I am.
The other day, I sat at a table at a restaurant for 20 minutes while the waitress ignored me.
She waited on all of the tables around me first, And when she finally came to take my order, she didn't even apologize.
Ageism is everywhere.
What I hate is to be talked to like I'm a child.
Some people think that if you've got gray hair, you're not all there.
I'm as sharp as ever.
I know, but do you know what we're doing?
What?
We're griping.
That's what old people are supposed to do all the time, right?
You've got a point there.
Let's go do something more productive before anyone notices.
Our dialogue begins with Angelica saying, saying to her friend Jan, Oh, sorry, what was I saying?
I lost my train of thought.
Angelica can't remember what she was talking about.
To forget what you are saying is to lose your train, T-R-A-I-N, of thought.
This is when you are talking to someone and sometimes in the middle of a sentence or an idea that you are expressing, you forget what you are saying.
This happens to me.
What was I saying?
Oh, this happens to me all of the time.
Jan says, you were telling me about the book you're reading.
Jan is telling Angelica, reminding her what they were talking about.
Angelica says, oh yeah, I must have had one of those senior moments.
To have a senior, S-E-N-I-O-R, moment means to forget something.
When you forget something, as sometimes people who are getting older, do we call that a senior moment?
The word senior is used in the United States to refer to those who are older, usually over 65 years old.
You would be called a senior.
Sometimes a senior citizen is used.
A citizen is someone who is part of a certain country.
So senior citizen or senior are both used to describe someone who is older.
Jan says to Angelica, welcome to the club.
The expression welcome to the club is is used to show someone that you have had the same experience that they are describing, usually a negative experience, but not always.
For example, you are talking to someone about how difficult it is to raise children, to have children.
And the other person says, welcome to the club, meaning I have those same problems.
I understand what you're saying.
Jan says that having a senior moment or losing your train of thought is what happens when you are over the hill H-I-L-L.
To be over the hill means to be too old to do something well or simply to be very old.
We also use the expression over the hill to mean on the other side of a hill.
A hill is like a small mountain or a mound.
So to be over the hill means to be on the other side of the hill.
The expression is related to this meaning about being too old.
If you think of life as a hill that goes up in the beginning and then you reach the top and then you start going down.
Being over the hill means you are starting to go down.
You're at the last part of your life or the last stage of your life.
That's being over the hill.
Angelica says, we're not over the hill.
She then jokes with Jan by saying you may be an old geezer, but I still like to think of myself as middle-aged.
To be a geezer.
G-E-E-Z-E-R is an informal word to refer to an old man, but it's a rude or insulting word, not a nice thing to say to describe an old man as a geezer.
So, Angelica says that Jan may be a geezer.
She's saying you may be a geezer, but I like to think of myself as middle-aged.
Middle-aged means you're not too young, you're not too old.
She then says, isn't 70 the new 60?
Yeah.
When you have a change in fashion, in clothing, for example.
One year, everybody wears black and black is the most popular color.
I'm speaking mostly about women's clothing.
And the next year, everyone's wearing yellow.
And you say, oh, well, yellow is the new black, meaning it's replaced black.
We no longer wear black, we wear yellow.
In this expression, isn't 70 the new 60?
Angelica is saying that people used to think that being 60 was old.
But now...
Being 70 is old, and being 60 is not old.
Jan says that's what they say, that's what people say.
But I don't mind aging.
To age, A-G-E, as a verb, means to get older.
Jan says, I may be a little absent-minded now and then, but I'm not senile.
To be absent, A-B-S-E-N-T, hyphen minded, M-I-N-D-E-D, means to be forgetful, to often forget things.
There's an expression, the absent-minded professor.
Because professors are so involved in their own thinking that they forget to do normal things.
The absent-minded professor.
Jan is saying that he's a little absent-minded because he's getting older and he forgets things.
But he is not senile, S-E-N-I-L-E.
To be senile means not to think clearly or to be unable to remember something because you are getting old.
It's usually considered a serious case or a serious condition of someone who is old, who forgets many things.
Jan says, what I can't stand is being treated like I am senile.
The verb to stand, S-T-A-N-D, here means to be able to tolerate something.
It's okay.
So the opposite is Not be able to stand something means that you cannot tolerate something.
You cannot, we would also use the expression, put up with something.
You really don't like something.
To strongly not like something is not to be able to stand something.
So Jan doesn't like being treated like he is senile.
To be treated T-R-E-A-T-E-D means to have someone act in a certain way toward you, to have someone behave toward you in a certain way.
I don't want to be treated like a child means don't talk to me, don't act like I am a child.
To be treated has a couple of meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide today for more information.
Jan then gives an example of how he was treated like he was senile.
He said the other day, meaning recently.
Last week, for example, I sat at a table at a restaurant for 20 minutes and the waitress ignored me.
Angelica says ageism is everywhere.
Ageism, A-G-E-I-S-M, is discrimination against old people or unfair treatment of old people because they are old. and ageism is against the law in some countries, including in the United States for some jobs.
If you do not hire someone because they are a certain age, you might be accused of ageism.
Angelica says, Some people think that if you have gray hair, You're not all there.
To have gray hair means to have hair that is white or silver in color because you are getting older.
So when you get older, you often get gray hair.
It's what we call your hair when it gets white.
Gray is spelled G-R-A-Y.
It can also be spelled G-R-E-Y, which is more common in British English.
The expression that you are not all there means that you're not thinking clearly, that you are senile, or even that you're a little crazy.
Someone says to you that man over there is not all there.
They mean they have some mental problem or they're not thinking correctly.
Angelica says that she is as sharp as ever.
Sharp, S-H-A-R-P, means intelligent, to be able to think very quickly and clearly.
Angelica is saying that even though she has gray hair and she is old, she's still sharp, she's still smart.
Jan then says, you know what we are doing?
And Angelica says, what?
And Jan says we're griping.
To gripe, G-R-I-P-E, means to complain, to say what is wrong with something.
That's what old people are supposed to do all the time, right?
Meaning that's what old people normally do.
And Jan and Angelica are talking about how they are not old, but Now they are doing what old people do.
That's what people say, is to complain about things.
Angelica says, To say someone has a point.
P-O-I-N-T means that you understand what someone said or you agree with what someone else has said.
So Angelica is saying, I agree.
You've got a point there.
Let's go do something more productive before anyone notices.
To do something productive.
P-R-O-D-U-C-T-I-V-E means to work very well efficiently, to do a lot, to make something to be useful, or All of these are part of being productive.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a native rate of speech.
Welcome to the club.
That's what happens when you're over the hill like we are.
We're not over the hill.
You may be an old geezer, but I still like to think of myself as middle-aged.
Isn't 70 the new 60?
That's what they say, but I don't mind aging.
I may be a little absent-minded now and then, but I'm not senile.
What I can't stand is being treated like I am.
The other day, I sat at a table at a restaurant for 20 minutes while the waitress ignored me.
She waited on all of the tables around me first, and when she finally came to take my order, she didn't even apologize.
Ageism is everywhere.
What I hate is to be talked to like I'm a child.
Some people think that if you've got gray hair, you're not all there.
I'm as sharp as ever.
I know, but The script for today's podcast was written by... by... Oh, Dr. Lucy Saye.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2007.
