Hello! Welcome to the VOA Learning Englishprogram, Words and Their Stories, where every wordhas a story.

And Happy New Year!

The start of a new year is a time of reflection, ordeep thinking. Many people plan for the future and, at the same time, feel nostalgic for the past. In otherwords, they think about the past in a dreamy way – a little happy and a littlesad.

One popular New Year’s song is especially nostalgic.

Dan Fogelberg was a popular U.S. singer-songwriter during the 1970s. Hissong “Same Old Lang Syne” is set around the New Year.

When two former lovers – high school sweethearts, perhaps? – meet in agrocery store, they talk about old times and wonder what might have been.

“Lang syne” means at a distant time in the past.

In the first part of the song, Fogleberg writes, “I stole behind her in thefrozen foods, and I touched her on the sleeve.”

Met my old lover in the grocery store,
The snow was falling, Christmas Eve,
I stole behind her in the frozen foods,
And I touched her on the sleeve.

Fogelberg did not actually steal anything from the store. Stealing would gethim arrested. And that would make the song very different.

No, in this case, “to steal” means to do something secretly. You can steal aglance at your secret love from across a crowded room. If someone steals a kiss from you, they sneak up and surprise you with a kiss. If someonesteals your heart, they cause you to fall deeply in love with them. And iftwo lovers steal away into the night, they escape secretly to be together.

Who knew stealing could be so romantic!

Moving on to the next selection from the song, we find two commonexpressions.

We took her groceries to the checkout stand
The food was totaled up and bagged
We stood there lost in our embarrassment
As the conversation dragged

Let’s talk about “to be lost in embarrassment.”

If you lose yourself in something, an event or emotion takes over your mindand body. For example, I love getting lost in a good book. Lovers get lost ineach others' eyes. You can also lose yourself in your work and forget to seefamily and friends.

Next, what happens when a conversation drags? It does not movesmoothly. If two people are embarrassed, their conversation can be slowand awkward. You can also say a book or movie drags if the story linesmove too slowly.

Conversations with a former lover can be embarrassing. It can be evenmore embarrassing if you are still attracted to that person.

Later in the song, Fogelberg writes about his former lover’s appearance. Hesays the “years had been a friend to her, and that her eyes were still asblue.”

I said the years had been a friend to her
And that her eyes were still as blue
But in those eyes I wasn't sure
If I saw doubt or gratitude

When you say the years had been a friend to someone, you are saying thatthey look younger than their age. You can also say that the years havebeen kind to someone. It is a nice thing to say.

But you can also change this expression around and say the years have notbeen kind to someone, meaning they look older than they really are.

And that brings us to the end of this Words and Their Stories.

Steal away by yourself to practice these expressions. Perfecting them willensure your English conversations won’t drag. Or perhaps just lose yourselfin this song!

I’m Anna Matteo, wishing everyone a happy New Year!

We drank a toast to innocence,
We drank a toast to time.
Reliving in our eloquence,
Another old lang syne.

Anna Matteo wrote this for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

Words in This Story

reflection – n. consideration of some subject matter, idea, or purpose

nostalgia – n. pleasure and sadness that is caused by rememberingsomething from the past and wishing that you could experience it again <A wave of nostalgia swept over me when I saw my childhood home.>

embarrassing – adj. to make (someone) feel confused and foolish in frontof other people

awkward – n. causing embarrassment <an awkward moment>

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