Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Englishteacher24-7]

Two older men greeted each other, one says to the other, "how's it going young man? The other man said, "heavy on the young!"

Do you understand what the second man meant by "heavy on the young?"
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Englishteacher24-7

[educe22]

He is merely saying that the listener should mentally emphasize that the person speaking wants to have his youth recognized (whether it is true or not).

It is a form of jest or repartee among friends.
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Educe22

[Englishteacher24-7]

Bingo, you are correct! If you could observe the two persons, you would see that they were both having fun with each other. In a joking way, the first person is applying the opposite of reality, and the second person is reinforcing the "young man" part to play along with the jesting of the first person.
As a background for ESL/EFL students, in the United States, if you go to a restaurant and order a sandwich, such as a fish sandwich and you want to request extra tartar sauce, you would simply say, "heavy on the tartar sauce!" and the cook will put extra tartar sauce on it.

Therefore in the dialogue, when the second person says, "heavy on the young" he's simply saying put emphasis on the "young" part of your greeting!

It's difficult to understand this from text alone, that's the value of knowing the culture, otherwise, you would try to determine the meaning in a literal sense.

If anyone want to read more of my writings, please go to:

http://www.englishbaby.com/forum/TeacherTalk/thread/390410?page=18

http://www.englishbaby.com/lessons/5517/member_submitted/do_you_understand_this_dialogue

http://www.englishbaby.com/findfriends/gallery/detail/1207903

Good job educe22!
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Englishteacher24-7