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Hi，everyone and welcome back to Britain under the microscope。欢迎回来，闲话英伦. Hello Anlan.

Hi Lulu, hi，everyone. So today what would you like to talk about?

You know what? In one of the previous episodes，we have already established that, Anlan，you're a very forgetful person. You are saying that you're going senile，you're kind of getting old.

Hang on hang on, I didn't say I was getting old. I just said I often forget things.

But the thing is it's very funny. I've known Anlan for years. A lot of our friends would agree with me when I say that Anlan is an old soul.

Yes. I do know that some of our fans mentioned that they think I'm in my 50s or in my 60s. Actually I'm not，I should say.

没有见过安澜的小伙伴们，我来说一下，居然有我们的粉丝见到安澜之后说，我一直都以为你是一个有地中海发型的大叔，但其实安澜是一个年轻的帅哥。But that doesn't mean he's not old inside.

Yeah, ok, I would say I am quite old inside.

So your mannerism，so I thought it would be an interesting thing that if we talk about old person English. First of all，there is such a thing，right？There are certain words you would use and people would think you sound like my grandpa.

Yeah, it's probably the same in Chinese as well. There are certain expressions that as soon as you say them，it makes you sound much, much, much older.

Let's talk about those. So maybe you can avoid those unless you want to sound like an old person which is fine. There's no ageism here.

Nothing wrong with sound like an old person.

Wise. So let's get into it.

I think first of all，let's start with the ultimate old person phrase: Back in my day...

Woah, of course, "back in my day..."

So back in my day，things were a lot cheaper. It was easier to do this. It was not as difficult to do that...

Kind of reminiscing about the past and saying how awful things are today.

Yeah. You can say "back in the day" or "back in my day" or "those were the days".

Those were the days...

"Back in my day, kids used to be respectful to their elders. Oh another one! Kids today. 如今的年轻人 Oh no, I think I say that sometimes. Oh no.

Yeah, I think sometimes it just creeps up on you. All of a sudden you just say "kids today".

The other day some teenagers were like sort of shouting very loudly in public place and like having fun sharing something they watch on Douyin.

And I was just thinking "kids today" and then I immediately thought to myself "Oh no..."

Dangerous sign.

I know. They might also say things like when I was your age...

Yeah. When I was your age or when I was young. Actually talking about kids，you could also say another really old expression "ankle biter".

Ankle是脚踝?

What does ankle-biter mean？

Ankle-biter is a bit of a negative term for very young children.

What, they bite your ankles?

They're almost like small little dogs，like yappy dogs.

I see. So these are older people who really don't like kids. "These ankle-biters!"

Yeah you normally would shout it when you're trying to get kids off your lawn or your front garden.

I see. Becoming one of those older people sitting on the front porch and shouting at the kids.

Um um.

What's the next？

Mark my words.

Mark my words. It's a bit like I'm telling you the truth about life. I'm giving you an important life lesson. If you don't listen to me, then in the future you gonna regret it. "Mark my words" In Chinese we have 不听老人言 also very old saying.

Yeah. I think we're mostly talk about like sort of angry old person English really.

So we can also say two more words: Faff

Eh...How do you spell that?

F-A-F-F

that's a very British term, isn't it?

It is very British. Well, I should say this is "Britain under the microscope", so this is old person British English.

I've heard older people saying "Stop faffing about"

Yeah. Faffing around means wasting time.

So it's just like lazing around.

Yeah, or you can say it's all a bit of a faff，which means it's all a bit messy. It's all...

So, it's a very versatile word.

Yeah, it is.

But really old，right？Young people don't use the word "faff".

Sometimes I've said that once or twice without thinking.

There's also another word as well: Palava.

I've never heard of this.

Because it's very very old.

Palava sounds like a dessert.

Well, palava is a lot of hassle. It's a lot of nuisance.

I've heard of "kerfuffle".

Yeah, kerfuffle is very similar to palava.

You know What? I love collecting interesting sounding words and I found that in British slang you have a lot more of those weird sounding words than in American slang, I think。

I think so. Yeah, we have lots of sort of alliteration，we got lots of sound play.

So far we've just been talking about old people complaining. I don't want to discriminate. We all will age.

Oh yeah.

For whoever is listening. I know that some of our listeners are older. We mean no disrespect. It's just a bit of light-hearted fun.

And to be perfectly honest，I've been sounding like that for years, so it's not about age.

Well, You are only as old as you feel.

Exactly. So with that in mind, let's talk about having fun. An old expression: Gallivanting.

Oh, I've heard of that. Gallivanting means just going around partying.

Having some light hearted fun. You know, "I can't believe he's gone out gallivanting again tonight."

So you've gone out gallivanting...It sounds like old couple having kind of like a joke with each other. Maybe not even older couple.

But also parents might say it to their children as well.

So you are just gallivanting all over town.

Also I would say "the early bird special".

Early bird special，I only know that in sales, in sort of sales marketing, 叫早鸟优惠价。

But what do you mean by early bird special? How is that related to older people？

Well, it's a common stereotype really that older people tend to eat a lot earlier.

So it's about food.

It's about food. It's about restaurants around 5 or 6o'clock, they have an "early bird special". So it's slightly discounted food.

For older customers?

Just before the main dinner which is normally at seven or eight or so.

So "early bird special" in this sense is about restaurant serving food earlier.

Yeah, it is also for me as well.

Living in Beijing because of the traffic so bad, if I do go out I generally go out early.

So you would actually have the early bird special

Well, if I go out for dinner，I normally leave the house like 4 o'clock or something like that. Because it's the only way you can get through the traffic.

Oh I do agree with you. Honestly I don't think it's too much of a problem in China because we generally eat earlier. A lot of Chinese people would eat dinner at six and nobody would think twice about that.

Yeah, it's the same in the UK 6,7,8 is not that uncommon. I think if you go to Spain or Italy...

Which reminds me, last time Anlan and me，we were meeting up with some Italian friends. When we asked them "when do you want to meet for dinner?" And they said "how about nine？" And I just remembered seeing Anlan's face like "What？"

Yeah，nine is a little bit too late for me to have dinner.

OK, so early bird special. Any other things?

We might say "have a chinwag". It's a very old British English expression. It just means have a chat，literally your wagging your chin，you are moving your chin.

So just having a chat. So far so good.

Focusing on maybe the last expression for this episode. I think it might be suitable to say "I'm just going to rest my eyes for a minute".

I'm just going to rest my eyes for a minute and then the next minute I go (snoring).

"Rest my eyes" literally means have a nap, have a very short sleep.

That happens to me a lot.

I'm not saying anything.

Originally this was supposed to be a an episode for me to make fun of Anlan. But I think I ended up checking a lot of the boxes.

Anyhow，I think apart from saying "kids today"，recently I've also picked up knitting and crocheting. 我最近开始钩织, 打毛衣了。

I really can't say anything about that.

That is considered a very old person hobby.

I don't know. It is now seen as a bit hip, I would say.

Yeah, it's probably getting more hip now.

Alright. But whatever we said about old people language, just remember those are just the stereotypes. Again，there's no disrespect for anyone who is physically older. What matters is how you feel inside. So Anlan if you feel like you're 70 year old，be a 70 year old. No problem.

Thank you.

So how do you feel inside? What is your mental age？Does it match your biological age？Leave us comment in the comment section. We'll see you next time. Bye.

Bye.