Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 526, Talking About Age.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 526.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you.
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This episode is called Talking About Age.
It's a dialogue between Gabby and Sharif.
It's going to be using a lot of vocabulary that we use to describe how old someone is.
Let's get started.
Another birthday.
I'm going to stop celebrating.
What's there to celebrate?
Getting old and decrepit?
Are you kidding me?
We're in the prime of our lives.
Who's decrepit?
I'm not.
If I'm in my prime, then why do I feel so middle-aged?
It's a matter of perspective.
It's true that we're not spring chickens anymore but who wants all of the angst of youth?
Not me.
I like living these mature years without the insecurity and uncertainty of youth.
It's not that I don't miss the awkwardness of my teenage years, and I definitely don't miss the struggles I had to go through in my 20s.
What I miss is the excitement of seeing and experiencing things for the first time.
If I'm nostalgic, then I'm nostalgic for the innocence of youth.
Come on.
There's nothing stopping you from seeing and trying new things now.
Don't tell me that you've seen and done everything.
No, I haven't.
Then you'll come with me next Saturday, and I guarantee you a new experience.
What new experience?
Have you ever tried skydiving?
No, I haven't, and I don't plan to now.
I may be old, but I'm not ready to kick the bucket yet.
Gabby begins by saying to Sharif, Another birthday.
I'm going to stop celebrating.
What's there to celebrate?
Getting old and decrepit?
Gabby is obviously not too happy because it's her birthday.
She doesn't want to celebrate.
She doesn't want to have a party or be happy because there's nothing to be happy about.
She says, what's there to celebrate?
Getting old and decrepit?
Decrepit D-E-C-R-E-P-I-T means when someone is getting very old or something is getting very old and it stops working or it is falling apart, we would say that it's decrepit.
This old bookcase I have that holds all of my books, it's old and decrepit.
It's starting to fall down.
Sharif says, are you kidding me?
We're in the prime of our lives.
To be in the prime P-R-I-M-E of your life means to be living in the best period of your life, when you're happy and healthy and having fun.
To be in the prime of your life means to be in the best years of your life.
Gabby says, if I'm in my prime, then why do I feel so middle age?
Middle age depends on the country and the period of history you're in.
Nowadays, middle age is someone who's not young but not old, maybe between 45 and 55 or 40 and 60.
It depends on how old you are, whether you think you're middle age.
I think I'm definitely middle age.
Sharif says it's a matter of perspective.
Perspective here means it's a matter of the way you look at things, your point of view.
This is a common expression.
It's a matter of perspective, meaning it's an issue of perspective.
Sharif says it's true that we're not spring chickens anymore.
A spring chicken is an informal term, sort of an old-fashioned term, for a young person.
Sharif is probably using it here to be sort of funny, because we don't hear that expression very often.
But a spring chicken would be a young chicken, a young person.
He says, who wants all the angst of youth?
Not me.
Angst.
A-N-G-S-T is when you're worried, when you're uncertain.
You don't know what's going to happen next, so you feel uncomfortable.
That's angst.
He says he doesn't want the angst of youth.
I like living these mature years without the insecurity and uncertainty of youth.
If we're describing someone as mature here, it means someone who is an adult, someone who is grown up and no longer a child.
Maturity has a couple of different meanings.
The word mature, take a look at the learning guide for some more explanations.
Sharif says that living in these mature years means He doesn't have insecurity and uncertainty.
To be insecure means to be not secure.
In English, sometimes we put the word in in front of a word to mean not.
Sometimes we put the letters un, technically the prefix un, in front of a word to mean not.
It depends on the word.
This word is insecurity.
It means not feeling secure.
In this case, not knowing how to act, not having confidence.
Uncertainty means not certain, meaning you don't know what's going to happen next.
You don't know what you should do, how you should live your life.
This would be uncertainty.
So being mature means not being insecure and not being uncertain or secure and certain.
Gabby says it's not that, meaning that's not why she feels sad.
She says, I don't miss the awkwardness of my teenage years.
Awkwardness is a feeling of being uncomfortable, of not knowing what to say, perhaps not knowing what to do with your body.
People who are teenagers, someone between the ages of 13 and 19, often are sometimes awkward.
They're uncomfortable.
Their body is growing uncomfortable.
They may not feel comfortable in the way they talk or the way they look.
This is not uncommon for teenagers.
Gabby says she doesn't miss the awkwardness of her teenage years.
Notice we use it as an adjective to mean the time when I was a teenager.
She says, I definitely don't miss the struggles I had to go through in my 20s.
What I miss is the excitement of seeing and experiencing things for the first time.
She says N-O-S-T-A-L-G-I-C means to remember things from your past and wishing perhaps that you could do those things again or experience those things again.
I'm sometimes nostalgic for the years that I was in graduate school, when I was studying for my degree after I finished my bachelor's degree.
It seemed to be now a wonderful time, although when I was there at that time, hmm, Not so much.
But now that I'm older, I think, oh, those were wonderful years.
Actually, I think these are wonderful years, too.
So I'm not that nostalgic.
Well, Gabby says she's nostalgic for the innocence of youth.
Innocence is a state where you may not know very much about the real world, about the bad things that happen in the world.
We often think of young children as being in an age of innocence.
Innocence has many different meanings, and you know where to go to find out those meanings.
The Learning Guide, that's right.
Sharif says, come on, there's nothing stopping you from seeing and trying new things now.
Come on is here used to mean don't be silly or that's not the right view.
He says, don't tell me that you've seen and done everything.
Sharif is saying there's lots of new things in life to experience.
Gabi says, no, I haven't.
Sharif then says, you'll come with me next Saturday and I guarantee you a new experience.
Sharif is going to show Gabby something she has not experienced before.
Gabby says, what new experience?
Sharif says, have you ever tried skydiving?
Skydiving is...
When you jump out of an airplane with a parachute, which is a large piece of fabric, of material that helps you slow down your fall.
To parachute out of a plane means to jump out of a plane as it's high above the ground, and then you have your parachute that helps you come down to the ground slowly.
We also call that skydiving.
Gabby says, no, I haven't, and I don't plan to now, meaning I don't plan to skydive now.
I may be old, she says, but I'm not ready to kick the bucket yet.
The expression to kick the bucket means to die, to pass away, to no longer be living.
She's making a joke here, saying that if she tried skydiving, she could kill herself.
And she's not ready to die.
She's not ready to kick the bucket.
It's an informal expression.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Another birthday.
I'm going to stop celebrating.
What's there to celebrate?
Getting old and decrepit?
Are you kidding me?
We're in the prime of our lives.
Who's decrepit?
I'm not.
If I'm in my prime, then why do I feel so middle-aged?
It's a matter of perspective.
It's true that we're not spring chickens anymore.
But who wants all of the angst of youth?
Not me.
I like living these mature years without the insecurity and uncertainty of youth.
It's not that.
I don't miss the awkwardness of my teenage years and I definitely don't miss the struggles I had to go through in my twenties.
What I miss is the excitement of seeing and experiencing things for the first time.
If I'm nostalgic, then I'm nostalgic for the innocence of youth.
Come on.
There's nothing stopping you from seeing and trying new things now.
Don't tell me that you've seen and done everything.
No, I haven't.
Then you'll come with me next Saturday and I guarantee you a new experience.
What new experience?
Have you ever tried skydiving?
No, I haven't and I don't plan to now.
I may be old, but I'm not ready to kick the bucket yet.
The script today was written by someone in the prime of her life.
Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
