Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 898.
People of different ages.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 898.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
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This episode is a dialogue between Gloria and Andy describing different ages.
Let's get started.
I'm surprised at the variety of people on this tour.
Oh, yeah?
I hadn't noticed.
Well, we'll be spending the next two weeks with these people, so I thought I'd get to know some of them.
That's nice.
Did you see that 30-something couple with a toddler and an infant?
I'm really surprised they're on this tour.
I'm sure they know what they're doing.
And how about that group of seniors?
Some of them look like they're in their mid to late 70s.
They seem pretty spry to me.
But what really surprises me is that group of middle-aged couples with their tween and teenage children.
They'll be a handful.
They seemed pretty well behaved to me.
And did you notice that woman in her early 40s and the 40ish man each traveling alone?
She seemed nice, but he didn't seem too friendly.
Maybe he's using his time to size up everybody like you are.
I think there will be plenty of people for you to talk to these two weeks when you're not sightseeing.
Sightseeing?
Oh yeah, sightseeing.
Gloria says, I'm surprised at the variety of people on this tour.
Variety just means many different kinds of people.
Andy says, oh yeah, I hadn't noticed.
I didn't realize.
Gloria said, well, we'll be spending the next two weeks with these people.
So I thought I'd get to know some of them.
Gloria and Andy are on some sort of tour, probably of a different city or a different state, maybe even a different country.
They're getting to know the people who are in the same tour group.
Gloria says she's getting to know them.
And Andy says, that's nice.
Andy doesn't seem very interested, does he?
Gloria says, I'm really surprised they're on this tour.
30-something spelled 30-hyphen-something. is an expression meaning someone who is in their 30s.
They could be 30, 31, 32, 33, all the way up to 39.
That would be a 30-something.
If you are in your 20s, you would be a 20-something.
If you are in your 50s, you would be a 50-something and so forth.
When you don't know someone's exact age, but you think they're in their 20s or 30s or 40s, you can use this expression.
Toddler T-O-D-D-L-E-R describes a young child, usually one two, maybe three years old, who has recently learned to walk.
A toddler is a young child, but one who can walk.
An infant, I-N-F-A-N-T, is the same as a baby.
This is someone who is not able to walk.
Infants have to be carried from one place to another, or maybe they can crawl on their hands and knees to move themselves back and forth.
Gloria says she's surprised to see the 30-something couple with a toddler and an infant on the tour.
Andy says, I'm sure they know what they're doing.
Meaning, the parents know what they're doing, so we shouldn't worry about it.
I think Andy is also kind of saying to Gloria here, if I may interpret the script for you, that perhaps Gloria is too interested in these other people.
Gloria might be someone who we would describe as nosy, N-O-S-Y.
Someone who's nosy is always trying to find out what's going on in other people's lives.
Trying to find things that are really not their concern.
Things that are, we would say, none of their business.
Gloria says, and how about that group of seniors?
Seniors S-E-N-I-O-R-S describes an old person, especially someone who is retired, who is no longer working.
Gloria says some of them look like they're in their mid to late 70s.
When we use the prefix mid M-I-D, followed by a hyphen, in front of words like 60s, 70s or 20s 30s 40s, any age, we mean they're in the middle of that range.
To say someone's in their mid-70s means they're probably 74, 75, or 76.
If you're in your mid-30s, you're probably 34, 35, or 36.
You can also describe ages using the prefix late.
He's in his late 80s.
That means he's probably 87, 88, or 89.
And of course, you could also say early.
He's in his early 40s.
He's 40, 41, 42, maybe 43.
And he says that these seniors that Gloria is talking about seem or appear pretty or very spry to him.
To be spry, S-P-R-Y, means to have a lot of energy.
It's often used to describe an older person who has perhaps a surprising amount of energy, who's more energetic than you may expect him to be.
Gloria says.
But what really surprises me she continues to make observations is is that group of middle-aged couples with their tween and teenage children.
They'll be a handful.
Middle-aged, M-I-D-D-L-E hyphen A-G-E-D, means you are in the middle of your lifespan.
Usually we think of the ages between say, 45 and 65 maybe 70 nowadays as being middle-aged, or between 50 and 70.
I have to say that because I'm not yet 50, so I don't want to consider myself middle-aged.
But I probably am.
Anyway, middle-aged would be people who are older, but not retired people who are probably still working in their 40s, 50s and 60s.
Gloria says that she's surprised that there is a group of middle-aged couples, meaning usually husband and wife, with their tween and teenage children.
Teenage, you probably know, is someone who is between the ages of 13 and 19 years old.
We call that person a teenager.
The teen comes from the numbers 13, 14, 15, and so forth.
A tween, T-W-E-E-N, is a newer word.
It describes someone usually in the age bracket of 9 to 12.
Someone who isn't quite yet a teenager, but they're not a child anymore either.
They're not a young child.
They're still children, of course.
9 to 12 is sometimes described now in the last maybe 20 years or so as a tween.
I think one of the reasons that word was invented was for advertising and marketing reasons.
They wanted a term that would cover advertising.
Children who perhaps had enough influence on their parents to make them buy things.
So they decided to target them.
They decided to advertise directly to them.
That's, in any case, what a tween is.
Someone between the ages of 9 and 12.
It could describe a boy or a girl, but it's more often used to describe girls.
Gloria says that...
When we say someone or something is a handful, we mean it's a lot of work.
It's going to be difficult.
It's going to be challenging.
Once again, Andy does not agree with Gloria.
That's how you know they're married.
He says that the children seem pretty well behaved.
To me, well-behaved means that they are not acting inappropriately, they're not yelling, they're not screaming their quiet, the respectful that would be well-behaved.
We use that expression when talking about children, or perhaps students.
Andy doesn't agree with Gloria, but Gloria continues to go on and make her observations.
She says, and did you notice that woman in her early 40s and the 40-ish man each traveling alone?
Early 40s, we've already described.
40-ish with the suffix I-S-H at the end. means approximately.
This is an informal suffix that we put on words to indicate that we're not exactly sure.
We're saying it's kind of like that.
You may ask, for example, is it cold outside?
You could say, well, it's cold-ish, meaning it's sort of cold, but it's not really cold.
Or, how hungry are you?
Are you very hungry?
You could say, well, I'm hungry-ish.
I'm not exactly starving.
I'm not really hungry, but I'm a little hungry.
This is very common now in conversational English, but informal English, to be sure.
By adding ish, you are saying that you're not quite sure about something, or you're giving an approximate meaning age, in this case when we say 40-ish.
Gloria says that the woman seemed nice, but the man didn't seem too friendly.
She's describing these two people who are traveling by themselves.
And he says maybe he's using his time to size up everybody like you are.
The verb to size S-I-Z-E up is a phrasal verb meaning to evaluate or assess something, usually just by looking at them.
You size up a situation or you size up a person.
There's also an idea here that you're doing it rather quickly and that you're doing it by comparing them to perhaps other people.
So a boss might size up the people who are applying for a job, decide well, I like that person and that person's better than that person, but not as good as this person.
That would be to size up.
It could also mean to look at someone and decide what you think they're like.
You think that's a friendly person.
You think that's a mean person just by looking at them.
That, of course, is not a very good idea.
Gloria says, well, I wish there were more young adults in this group.
A young adult is a very general term to describe someone who's 18 years or older, but usually younger than say, 30.
Young adults tend to be 18, 19, all the way up to 30, maybe even 35.
I am no longer a young adult.
Gloria says, I like talking to young people.
Andy says, I think there will be plenty of people for you to talk to these two weeks because when you're not sightseeing.
Sightseeing is what you do on a tour.
You go and you visit famous places, museums and parks and that sort of thing.
Gloria says, sightseeing?
Oh yeah, sightseeing.
She's forgotten that.
Of course, the main reason you go on a tour is not to meet the other people in the tour, but to see the places that you are going to visit.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Well, we'll be spending the next two weeks with these people, so I thought I'd get to know some of them.
That's nice.
Did you see that 30-something couple with a toddler and an infant?
I'm really surprised they're on this tour.
I'm sure they know what they're doing.
And how about that group of seniors?
Some of them look like they're in their mid to late 70s.
They seem pretty spry to me.
But what really surprises me is that group of middle-aged couples with their tween and teenage children.
They'll be a handful.
They seemed pretty well behaved to me.
And did you notice that woman in her early 40s and the 40ish man each traveling alone?
She seemed nice, but he didn't seem too friendly.
Maybe he's using his time to size up everybody like you are.
Well, I wish there were more young adults in this group.
I like talking to young people.
I think there will be plenty of people for you to talk to these two weeks when you're not sightseeing.
Sightseeing?
Oh yeah, sightseeing.
How old is our scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say?
Well, she's not a toddler and she's not an infant.
But she is a wonderful scriptwriter.
And that's all I can tell you.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
