This is the All Ears English Podcast.
How to greet a friend when you've lost touch in English.
Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast downloaded more than 200 million times.
Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection with your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS Wiz and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer.
Coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.
To get real -time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All Ears English app for iOS and Android.
Start your seven day free trial at allearsenglish .com forward slash app.
Have you lost touch with people from your childhood or from high school today?
Get key things to say when you see someone after a long time to revive the connection immediately.
Hey Aubrey, how's it going today?
Hey Lindsay, I am wondering because we're talking about this today.
Do you have any friends that you've lost touch with?
Sadly, yes, I've lost touch with a few people, especially because I spent a lot of my 20s living abroad and I met some very cool people that I wish I had made lifelong friends, but life just moved on once we went home.
And it's trickier because Facebook didn't exist.
Like when I lived in Montreal and Europe, we weren't friends on social media.
So unless you wrote letters or called it was harder to stay in touch.
Letters, it's so antiquated, right?
Thinking about writing letters now, right?
There was no mechanism for that to be honest or I think the time I was abroad Facebook was just getting started 2005, 6, 7, 8, 9.
So yeah, now it would be different.
I think you're right.
It's definitely easier right, but still we have to proactively keep those connections or even if you are friends on social media.
I'm sure this happens to you too Lindsay.
There may be like months or years that go by where the all you see are there like Facebook updates.
Yeah, you're still not, you know, putting in the effort to keep that friendship strong.
It's so true. It's so true.
So today's episode is getting to this topic, right?
How to greet a friend when you haven't seen them for a long time and this question came from YouTube.
What was the question Aubrey?
Exactly. Someone commented on YouTube.
Definitely guys if you want to watch our episodes on YouTube, it's fun to see the video there.
Someone commented. Can you record an episode for meeting a friend?
We've not seen for a long time.
I love this question.
It is. There is different vocabulary.
There are different things you would say when it's been a while.
Yes, a hundred percent.
100 % guys go ahead and hit follow on this podcast.
Don't miss it, right?
Make sure you catch all five of our episodes today that come out five times, five times a week guys.
Make sure you catch it.
All right, good stuff.
Let's do some great vocab here.
Okay, one interesting things that you can say.
It's been ages. So you might say so good to see you.
It's been ages. This means it's been a long time since we've seen each other.
It's definitely a fun way to exaggerate.
It's been ages, right?
Really putting your intonation into that.
I can't or you could say I can't believe how long it's been since I've seen you.
It's seriously been ages.
Yeah. So you'll see sort of a running theme here that if you reach out to someone you haven't talked to in a while, or if you run into them, you want to comment on it.
It'd be kind of weird.
Just be like, hey, how's it going?
Yeah, you want to use one of these phrases to point.
out that it's been a long time and you're sort of saying it's a bummer like, oh, it's a bummer that it's been so long since we've seen each other.
Yeah, and the next one is going to let you do that too.
It's another way to do that.
Very native slangy way to say it, right?
It's been forever. Yes, or I haven't seen you in forever and we really emphasize forever.
What a fun way to exaggerate.
It's fun. Yeah, so good to see you.
It's been forever, right?
I haven't seen you in forever.
How have you been? It's kind of strange the way we put it there, but we do all the time.
Okay, and then another one to say Aubrey would be what?
Yeah, to say that you have lost touch or that you've been out of touch.
So I might say my dad and I have been out of touch for a while.
So this is sort of a bonus of how you can talk to someone else about a friend or a family member that you haven't seen for a while that you've lost touch with.
Mm -hmm. Or if you're talking to someone, you could be like, I can't believe we lost touch.
It's been ages. And again, it happens easily, right?
Because we're just busy and you kind of just they fall off your radar, right?
Which would be we could use that for different things, maybe more like items.
You probably wouldn't say it to someone's face.
You fall off my radar.
So kind of means like I forgot about you, but we say this and it's like, oh, this person fell off my radar.
Yes, a hundred percent.
Hundred percent. Yeah, you might say, sorry, go ahead, Aubrey.
Did you have another example?
I was just gonna say another example is I lost touch with my childhood best friend.
So just like if there is someone that you haven't seen in a while, then you could say you lost touch.
Yes. A hundred percent.
Love it. Okay, Aubrey.
Let's take a look at a role play where we're going to bring these all together into one conversation.
Yeah. Yeah. And this role play shows how we can use these phrases not only to meet up with a friend we haven't seen in a while, but also to connect about whether or not we have kept in touch with friends.
Yeah, there's always that meta conversation that we can have, right?
And so almost every episode we show you the literal functions of that conversation.
And then you can always take that to a way to talk about that kind of conversation or that kind of circumstance.
You guys have a lot of connection options today.
Exactly. Don't reserve these just for when you run into a friend you haven't seen in forever.
Use this to connect with anyone.
Ask them like Lindsey did at the top of the episode.
If they stay in touch with friends all the time.
I mean, for example, I am still in close touch with my best friend from high school.
And so we meet up every time I'm back in New England.
I give her a call, go over to her house, whatever.
But I'm not as in touch with our other third best friend or close friend and I always ask her about how that person is doing.
And I say, oh, I've really lost touch with this person, you know, and so that would be that kind of conversation.
Exactly right. Have you kept in touch?
It's been ages since we've talked and you guys would talk about, you know, these other friends that you might have lost touch with.
Exactly. So here Aubrey, in this role play, we are again chatting about those high school friends.
Yes, exactly. I'll start us out.
Have you stayed in touch with anyone from high school?
A few people. Yeah, but I've lost touch with most of them.
I didn't go to any of my high school reunion.
So it's been ages since I've seen any of them.
What about childhood friends?
It's been forever since I saw any of them.
Nope. I'm totally out of touch with all of them.
Oh, yeah, this is really true for me.
I have not kept in touch with very many childhood friends every now and then.
If I go back to Idaho for like 4th of July, I'll run into someone from elementary school or high school.
And this is what I would say.
It's been ages. How have you been or I haven't seen you in forever.
It's kind of like the plot of every movie, right?
It's the plot of what is that movie?
Sweet Home, Alabama, or she goes back to Alabama.
Great movie run into people you haven't seen.
And forever. Yeah, like her life has changed completely.
She's living in New York.
She comes back. Great movie.
You haven't seen it guys.
So you said first, what'd you say Aubrey?
I said have you stayed in touch with anyone from high school?
So that means have you stayed in contact?
Have you been speaking with them?
Yeah, and then I said a few people.
Yeah, but I've lost touch with most of them.
Right. Yeah, so stayed in touch.
Lost touch is the opposite to mean like no, I haven't stayed in touch.
We haven't really been talking.
Yeah, good. And then you said I didn't go to any of my high school reunions.
So it's been ages since I saw any of them.
It's been yeah, it's been a long time.
I'm exaggerating ages.
It's been since the Jurassic period that I've seen any of them definitely hyperbole here and I'm curious if this is the same in other countries.
If you have this these high school reunions are where years later you all meet up just to see, we know what's changed in your lives and I haven't gone to any of them.
Have you Lindsay? Nah, I went to my five year but five years like what nothing right how much later in your life since then I have not I think there are some places in the country where you're more likely to find groups still together from high school like adults like your 40 and you have kids and now
you're still hanging out with your high school friends.
Like I remember being at a party once I think I shared this on the podcast my friend gee, he obviously has branched out but it's still close to some high school friends as well and I was at a party with him and all of a sudden they started breaking out the high school yearbook and then I thought it's
time to go home because I don't really care about your high school yearbook anyone you're talking about.
Yeah, it kind of becomes a little weird I guess for spouses probably or girl's boyfriend's partners but also just anyone I know that's kind of a trope that anyone your partner is always dreading going to these high school reunions because you're catching up you're sharing these old stories reminiscing
and they're this they're like I don't know any of these people.
I wasn't here for any of this.
Yeah, completely completely.
All right. Where do we leave off here?
I'll break what as I had said, it's been ages since I went to these reunions and then you said what about childhood friends?
It's been forever since I saw any of them and I'd see the talking about when we're very young like pre -high school like elementary school.
Oh my gosh. Yes. Could you imagine just see like because you remember them as a kid as like a eight -year -old kid and then imagine seeing them now.
I don't know. It's crazy.
I had a crazy experience this summer where I was playing pickle ball and someone came up to me and they were like Aubrey.
They knew me and I didn't recognize them at all and they told me who they were.
I hadn't seen them since they were probably 10.
So of course I'm not going to recognize them.
I don't know how they recognize me.
Wow, that is so that's so crazy.
I love that and by the way, this one it's been forever is the one I use the most I would say personally.
Yeah, I do too. I think so too.
It's been forever just means it's been a long time.
Yeah, and then the last one you said nope, I'm totally out of touch with all of them.
No, also very common.
Yes, and this is interesting because out of touch can mean sort of like uninformed as well.
There are a couple of different meanings of this in English, but in this case it means I've lost touch.
I haven't stayed in contact.
Yes, a hundred percent.
I love it. Now there is another episode that our listeners could check out that is related to this.
It's kind of complimentary, but they need to go over to the business English podcast, right Aubrey?
That was business English episode 288.
Who should you greet when arriving at work?
And we gave you great phrases there for greetings at work.
So if you work in business English, you definitely want to check that one out.
Yes, I love it. All right.
Good stuff Aubrey. Where should we leave our listeners today?
What is the final thought of the day?
Yeah, there is a lot here.
Not only do you need these phrases when you run into a friend you haven't seen in quite a while or reach out to them maybe over social media, but also, you know, sharing with a friend whether or not you have kept in touch with you is a great way to connect.
Yeah. So this these phrases are functional for many different kind of conversations one on one conversations, no matter what, whoever you're talking to it's very useful guys and super common.
Like I said, especially that it's been forever all the time everywhere.
Yes, use these right?
Ask a friend or a family member if they've kept in touch and use these phrases to share whether you have or not.
I love it. Good stuff Aubrey.
Thanks for being on the show today and guys go ahead and hit that follow button.
All right. Good stuff.
All right. Take you next time.
All right. Bye. Bye.
Thanks for listening to All Ears English.
Would you like to know your English level?
Take our two -minute quiz.
Go to all earsenglish .com forward slash fluency score.
And if you believe in connection not perfection then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything.
See you next time. Bye.
