Hi everyone and welcome back to Britain under the Microscope.

Hi Lulu, hi everyone.

A lot of people are really leaving all these comments and saying we want to hear from 安澜, a lot of them love your voice.

Thank you.

So we got 安澜 back as you wish. What are we gonna talk about today?

I think last time we spoke, we spoke a little bit about your latest videos on 抖音 and I've had a look for them after our last chat, and I really like them, they're really quirky.

Quirky means strange, right?

Yes, but it's actually quite positive. If you call something or someone quirky, it means that they are individual, they are unique, a little bit alternative, a little bit different from other people. Basically with that in mind, I'm thinking let's talk about things that are quirky. And the thing that most people think about the UK, especially Europeans and Americans, is the idea of the English eccentric.

The English eccentric？Doesn't eccentric just mean different, special or strange if you don't mind me saying?

Yes. Pretty much it means all of those. Eccentricity is normally people with maybe, unusual habits or behavior but it's not seen as a completely negative thing. It doesn't mean crazy.

But would you say that in British English eccentric is positive even.

It can be positive; it can also be negative as well. But a lot of people take pride in a fact of being unique or having unusual hobbies or interests or acting in a different way from everyone else.

Honestly, this is all very theoretical. Do you have any examples like, for example, what would you consider or what would people consider an eccentric behavior?

I would say in terms of hobbies maybe, that would be the easiest example would be train spotting.

Train spotting, train as in train the transport?

Yes. There are quite a few people who are obsessed with trains. They will spend the entire day standing on a platform of a train station recording all the trains that they see.

For what purpose?

For fun.

There are very different ideas of what fun is. So they stand there and they just write down...

The train numbers.

Can't they just look at the timetable because in China we just look at the timetable and then...

When I say the train numbers, I mean the actual numbers on the train itself like the machine numbers.

So not like which train, but the detailed numbers.

There are even lots of magazines in the UK about train spotting.

That is very difficult to understand, I guess to each his own...

There are people who are interested in bird watching.

Bird watching I know, watching the bird I think, isn't that a bit maybe for older people?

Yeah, but also some young people like it as well. There's also church bell ringing as a hobby.

What, you ring the church bell? Is that allowed, will church actually allow you to ring their bells?

They encourage it. They actually have special clubs where you can go and ring church bells.

Ok, I think it seems to me the way I think because in China especially living in Beijing everything is so fast-paced, so everything needs to have a meaning, has a function. I guess I'm more used to thinking in a very functional way it's like what is the meaning of this? I guess these people are just doing really random things for no results just for doing it.

Yeah, that's the whole idea about hobbies as well. So we probably can talk about that in a later episode, but hobbies are very popular.

Hobbies I get, for example, if you collect things, then you actually have the collections to show for, but what you were talking about is slightly different. Coming back to you said being eccentric is not seen as something bad. Would you say that is a part of the English culture?

Pretty much yes. They often say the golden age of the eccentric was the 19th century, the Victorian age because it was mostly the aristocracy.

Aristocracy, people with social status,就是贵族. Honestly I think that was the same in China. It’s usually people who had money, the titles and the time they could afford to be eccentric.

Exactly.

There are some famous stories from British history like there's one aristocrat who was so shy that he built tunnels all through his estate so he can avoid talking to people.

That sounds very English. He built tunnels to just go around.

There was one aristocrat that decided to stay in bed for about 30 years for his health.

30 years for his health? I would think that his leg muscles will just...

They did.

...atrophy.

He couldn't move at all. And one of my favorite stories is an aristocrat that preferred dogs to people, so he would never invite people to dinner, but instead he would lay the table for 12 of his dogs, the dogs would eat from silver plates.

Actually that is not that uncommon, I’ve seen people do that in China. People really really love their cats and dogs and they treat them like people, they will let them eat at the same table.

But back to the topic of culture, like the origin of this, aristocrats, they have money, they could afford to be eccentric, but would you say the eccentricity or people's tolerance of it or the appreciation of it has something to do with like the English mindset.

I will say to a certain extent, yes. In earlier episodes we talked a little bit about British comedy about it being quite absurd and strange. Part of that is also linked to eccentricity in Europe, lots of Europeans think that British or the English are very strange, they are very eccentric, and we actually think we are quite strange and eccentric.

Is it the island mentality because you're sort of cut off?

Yes, English people do see themselves as being on a small island, and they slightly separated from the rest of the world, but there's also another element to it as well. Being eccentric is a sign of creativity.

Honestly I think sometimes when Chinese people think of English or British, a lot of the times people would have this stereotype of you guys being very reserved, kind of more serious. But honestly, I think you see the very reserved people, you see the very conservative people, but on the other side, you also see some extremely creative people, some of the probably the best creative artists are in the UK.

Because creativity, a little bit of eccentricity all comes from the idea of individuality, people want to be individual.

To be unique like you said.

I would say a really good example of this and you can probably still see online is the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony, because there's quite a few strange shows that it was pretty different to other countries.

For us, it was really strange because 2008 that was a huge deal for us and we had the perfect opening ceremony, everything is so organized, perfectly executed. Then when we looked at the London Olympics, is this really opening ceremony?

Yeah, but that's all linked to eccentricity that's all linked to the things that we think about ourselves. I would say English people, they don't really look at themselves as very reserved. They actually look at themselves as a bit eccentric, a bit different from everyone else.

Because you guys were trying to show that eccentricity.

Yes.

Actually a lot of these music trends or even fashion trends started in Britain, I did not know that for example Punk and even Goth.

These are alternative cultures that are very popular or they were very popular, so listening to Punk music, having spiky dyed hair or being goth, dressing in black, wearing vintage clothing, vintage clothing is still very popular in the UK at the moment.

And also Glam Rock.

And Glam Rock as well. So all of those type of things are bit creative but also rather eccentric as well.

So in the end, let's talk about some expressions that people can actually use because in Chinese, when we say 怪,it's quite negative. It's usually not a good thing. So since you guys are so into eccentricity do you have some slightly better words for strange because in English, if you say someone is strange or odd or let's say a freak, or weird, these are all negative words, right？

If you call someone weird or odd or strange or special,that can be very, very negative.

It's like what's wrong with you.

But some of these expressions I'd like to share with you. We might actually use these to talk about ourselves and they are only a little bit humorous as well. We have looked at quirky.

Quirky.

We can say that someone or something is off the wall.

Off the wall that means kind of crazy?

Kind of different, a little bit crazy, you can call someone barmy.

Barmy, I think that's very British. I don't think Americans use it that much.

You can also call someone bonkers.

Bonkers. I thought bonkers is just a slang word just for you are crazy but like lovingly you are totally bunkers, like saying to your friend.

Yeah, and you can also say that someone is a little bit loony as well.

Like looney tunes.

Yeah, pretty much. You can also say that something is a bit wacky.

Wacky, I would say, to me it's perhaps very very close to eccentric, you are just very different. Honestly a lot of these words I would use on myself, I would love it if people say Lulu you are so quirky, you are so wacky. I would find that to be the highest form of compliment.

Same here, it's all about being just a little bit different, a little bit unique.

So what do you think 安澜，you have known me for years, do you think that I am quirky and wacky?

I think you are completely bonkers.

And the same to you.

Thank you.

All right, on that note, we're gonna wrap up here. Do you know anyone eccentric? What do you think about eccentric people, leave us a comment in the comment section. Let us know.

See you next time.

See you.

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