📕 Part 1: Birthdays

This episode's vocabulary

Reminisce (verb) - to talk or write about past experiences that you remember with pleasure.

Consistently (adverb) - in a way that does not change.

Attendee (noun) - someone who goes to a place, event, etc.

Preceding (adj.) - existing or happening before someone or something.

Deck (noun) - a wooden floor built outside, where people can sit and relax.

Synchronicity (noun) - the happening by chance of two or more related or similar events at the same time.

Fuss (noun) - a show of anger, worry, or excitement that is unnecessary or greater than the situation deserves.

Traumatic (adj.) - causing severe and lasting emotional shock and pain.

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Questions and Answers

M: Do you enjoy birthdays?

R: I think most people do, don't they? It's a good opportunity to get together with the people you love and have fun and reminisce and, of course, get the presents. What is not to like?

M: Do usually celebrate your birthday?

R: I think I do that pretty consistently, although it varies each time, now I think about it. I think most of them or I'm sorry, almost all of them have been massive parties. But how that looks and where they've been and the attendees have been very different every time. I think the last time, well, it was a bar in Moscow with almost all of my friends there, Maria. And the preceding birthday was my 30th. And that was at home with all of my family and friends in Scotland.

M: What did you do on your last birthday?

R: We went to a bar with terrible service. Maria, I mentioned it before. I believe you weren't there because apparently you had better things to do. But despite that, we all had fun.

M: I was in Pyatigorsk.

R: Yeah. I don't care if you were on the moon.

M: Can you remember a birthday that you enjoyed as a child?

R: Yeah, the one that you didn't come to.

M: As a child...

R: The one you didn't come to. All of my birthdays were like I was a child. I think my 17th birthday was quite wild if I remember correctly. There were a lot of people from my group of friends who came to mine and we partied in the summer house and on the deck until quite early in the morning. I think my neighbors were less than impressed but I had fun. The most memorable part was everybody doing the time warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show on the upper part of the decking. No audience, just a bunch of teenagers dancing and what passed for some kind of synchronicity. I'm glad there isn't much photographic evidence from those times, to be honest, but it was fun at the time.

M: Do most people celebrate their birthdays with a party in your country?

R: I think so. There's almost always a party. Though the format and size is quite unique. For example, in my family, my mum likes to make and have speeches at various parties. I like it when people are relaxed and talking. My dad just likes it with our family in a minimal fuss. So you could say it's very individualistic, but everybody has a party.

M: Why do you think some people dislike their birthdays?

R: Well, maybe their birthday is associated with some kind of traumatic event, like I know some people whose parents died on their birthdays, for example, and that's quite sad. So that's not so great. Other people don't like to be reminded they're getting old. Maybe as you get really old, you have fewer friends and that's not so nice. Um, but most people like birthdays, and I think that's a cause for celebration.

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Discussion

M: I disliked my birthday because once I got my bike stolen on my birthday or actually one day before my birthday, and then my family decided not to celebrate my birthday at all because I got my bike stolen. So after that, for many years, I hated my birthday.

R: Do you like your birthday this year?

M: Yes, I like your birthday last year and the year before. So, yeah. I love my birthdays.

R: Did you like my birthday last year, Maria?

M: When's your birthday?

R: Exactly.

M: Sometime in September? When, when is that? Vanya, when is his birthday? You know, in April? Oh, we love you, darling. So when we talk about birthdays, yeah, first of all, we say it's my birthday. Many people make a mistake like having like, they say, I have my birthday. So I have my birthday. Right.

R: I do have my birthday.

M: Yeah, but you say it's my birthday.

R: No.

M: You don't say I have my birthday.

R: No, you could say you have your birthday in August, for example.

M: No, not it is my birthday?

R: You can say it's my birthday in August but can also say I have my birthday. Really, so a mistake?

R: It might be a mistake, but it's a native level one. So if you say it in your IELTS exam then it won't be so bad.

M: Oh, I see. So at band nine level, you can make mistakes characteristic of native speaker.

R: Yes. Like getting fewer and less confused.

M: Yes. So say less people and...

R: Don't say less people.

M: But as a native speaker kind of error. Slip, it's a slip.

R: That's a silly error. Everybody knows the difference between less and fewer.

M: Not everybody, no.

R: Yeah. The people that design Tesco adverts. That's all.

M: Educated native speakers.

R: No, no. I don't think I would call the marketers at Tesco educated native speakers.

M: Anyway, wear listeners, we are going off on a huge tangent here from birthdays. Right, so we've just established that it's my birthday today. I have my birthday today. We have no idea when Rory's birthday is, but we do know how old he is now, which is good news. And now he's giving me the look now. Right. So.

R: Having a birthday is a good time to get together and reminisce.

M: Reminisce. Mmm.

R: Reminisce is just when you remember.

M: Yeah.

R: Together, back into the past.

M: Let's reminisce about our past. How do you spell it?

R: Good question.

M: He's reading from the script because he can't spell it.

R: I am reading from the script because I can't remember. You know it's one of those words like encyclopedia. I can write encyclopedia just fine, but if you ask me to spell it out loud, then I'm going to need to like pen and paper to write it.

M: Yeah, true. Yeah. You get together with people, you throw massive parties, OK, to throw a massive party on your birthday. Is it on your birthday or at your birthday. Inside your birthday.

R: On your birthday will be fine.

M: Yeah. OK.

R: Or at your birthday.

M: At your birthday party?

R: Um, well, no some people just say I at my birthday.

M: OK, yeah. And we get presents. No, we can say gifts but usually presents or prezzies.

R: Prezzies.

M: Prezzies for our birthdays.

R: You got a prezzie for your birthday. From Vanya, and me, and Pasha.

M: Oh, it was so sweet. They gave me a pair of earrings, handmade earrings. And they have precious stones.

R: They are handmade? Really?

M: Yeah, they are handmade. Yeah.

R: Wait, is that what they said? Wow.

M: Absolutely.

R: It matches with my bracelet which is from the same place, "rabbitstore". Check it on my Instagram.

M: Yeah. Pasha. Hello Pasha, if you listen to this podcast.

R: He does listen to us.

M: Our friend is Parsha is making beautiful jewellery and his name is Pasha. So we are just saying hello Pasha, we love you.

R: And we like your jewellery.

M: We love your jewellery. Thank you so much. Moving on birthdays. So your birthday could be wild.

R: Yes. So if it's wild it just means that lots of things are happening. It's very crazy. People are having a good time. You can have a wild birthday, but you can have a massive party.

M: Yeah. Throw a massive party.

R: And you throw a massive party. Well, you throw a party in general, but you throw a massive party, which means like lots of people. So I think at my most recent birthday, my 31st birthday, that was the biggest one yet. And I think there were... How many people were at my birthday, Maria? Oh, wait, you don't know.

M: Oh, I saw a picture. I saw a picture. I think there were like 20. 20 people.

R: There were more than 20 people there. I can guarantee you that. You wouldn't know because you weren't there.

M: Yeah, I wasn't there. I was working at Pyatigorsk.

R: If you have a massive party, the behavior might not be so good and people might be less than impressed, which is another way of saying annoyed. But it's like a nice way of saying instead.

M: Yeah. And it could be the most memorable party you've ever had. It's a nice adjective.

R: Or at least the most memorable part of the party you could remember.

M: Yes. And because of crazy people behaving, well, you know...

R: Like crazy people.

M: Birthday party behaving. There shouldn't be much photographic evidence.

R: Yes, but that just means to say there weren't many photos.

M: Yeah, I like the way you put it.

R: It was like, well, I always say I'm glad there isn't any evidence because it makes it sound like there's been a crime. But there's not really. It's just like, oh, God, it's embarrassing. So let's not use that.

M: Yeah, but now it's very difficult not to have photographic evidence because everybody's on their phones. Everybody's filming all the time. So you can, you know, end up having your photos, your crazy photos with this face like this.

R: When I was a teenager, we didn't have smartphones because we were busy running away from the dinosaurs, so it doesn't matter. Therefore, no evidence of my 17th birthday party exists. Thank God. Oh, no, wait. There is one. There's one picture and it's all of us with our hands up in the air on the deck. It's actually quite nice. Like, that's a nice picture. Everything else has been destroyed. Thank God.

M: They destroyed the deck. They destroyed the lake.

R: No, no. Just the evidence. The decking is still there, like the decking back home. I miss my deck.

M: Oh, sweet, sweet memories. Now Rory is reminiscing. OK, we can have different events at our birthday parties, for example, people can make speeches and Rory's mom likes making speeches.

R: And she likes to have them, or making them. My dad prefers it when there's minimal fuss.

M: Yeah.

R: But that's just another way of saying it's quiet. Yes, I have. This is Dad. He doesn't have a cake. We just give him presents and say well done. And he's OK with that. He wears black shirts too. He's a cool guy.

M: Nice. Yes. Hello Rory's dad. Then people toast to somebody.

R: Yeah. We didn't really talk about that, although for me having speeches and toast are the same thing.

M: Hmm.

R: But for a lot of people, they're individual things. In Russian they're the same things as well, right? You have a toast for people and that means you speak and then raise the glass.

M: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, sure. And then you can dance, you can listen to music. What else? You can play drinking games.

R: And if you play drinking games and dance, then you will have no synchronicity, which means that you can't do things together in a coordinated way.

M: Yeah, synchronicity. I like, you know, like you speak very naturally, informally, and then you squeeze in this word synchronicity. Yeah. Because like, you are an educated native speaker.

R: Allegedly.

M: Yeah, so it's OK to show off some terms, some specific words, even if they are more formal than the rest of your speech, which is fine.

R: But that's all from us, because we've got to go and celebrate with Maria now.

M: Yay. Have some fun.

R: Happy birthday, Maria.

M: Thank you! What's the birthday song?

R: Happy birthday to you.

M: Yes, this is the song.

R: Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Maria. Happy birthday to you.

M: Thank you, everybody, for all your wishes on Instagram and Telegram. You just exploded our social media. Thank you so much. Hugs and kisses from me.

R: And happy birthday to other people who share a birthday with Maria.

M: Yes.

R: But mostly it's about you, I love the look you're giving me right now. It's just like it's actually about me I think you'll find.

M: No, my birthday is far more important than your birthday, Rory.

R: Well, evidently, because you bother to go to your birthday. Not that I'm bitter.

M: Ok, maybe we can officially say, OK, so my birthday is on the 6th of May, so people know. Rory, when's your birthday?

R: My birthday is on the 24th of August.

M: Yep. So 24 of August is Rory's birthday.

M: So, dear listener, now you know, these are special dates for us. OK, thank you very much for listening.

R: Bye!

M: Bye!

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