Transcript of Bitesize Ep 92 - Transcript

Charlie:
Hello and welcome to the British English Podcast with your host Charlie, helping you better understand British, English and British culture. And today I have Matthew Calvert, aka Matt aka Matthew. Matthew.

Matt:
Sure,

Charlie:
Sure,

Matt:
Sure.

Charlie:
Uh, from from my university days, who's lingered into my adulthood as a very, very good friend who has been living in London for many years and been abroad and then come back and then been able to understand the pros and cons of the city and been able to understand the stereotyping attached to certain boroughs. And that is what we're going to do today. We're going to talk about the stereotypes that ChatGPT has, um, created for us to comment on. Yeah. But first, hello, sir. How are you doing all right.

Matt:
Hello. Still lingering around. So that's good.

Charlie:
Thank you very much for coming on the show again.

Matt:
Mhm.

Charlie:
Thank you. Thank you.

Matt:
Very welcome.

Charlie:
Um what can we what can we, uh, talk about before we go into the stereotyping. Well, let's be honest. We've just had a barbecue. We're feeling quite full.

Matt:
It was delicious.

Charlie:
Thank you, thank you. My second barbecue of ever I was going to say of the year. But it's ever that's that's my second barbecue I've ever done.

Matt:
I mean, it was, I would say, a resounding success. Oh, great. Given it was your second one ever.

Charlie:
Yeah.

Matt:
But of course it had too many sausages and now I feel a bit full.

Charlie:
A bit full, bit full. Yes. Um, but the burgers were quite good. Burgers were amazing. Yeah. Any faults, any criticisms, any constructive feedback?

Matt:
No. I definitely wish that I'd put halloumi in mine from the beginning. When I saw my. I saw you doing it And I thought, well, that's a bloody good idea. Really good idea.

Charlie:
What did you think was going to happen to the halloumi? Was it part of the salad? In your opinion? Definitely.

Matt:
Yeah. I would say halloumi is predominantly a salad. Cheese.

Charlie:
Interesting.

Matt:
Like feta is a salad. Cheese.

Charlie:
Interesting.

Matt:
Not having a feta sandwich. Let's put it that way. It's always cheddar or Brie. Yeah, yeah. Maybe Stilton.

Charlie:
Well, see, I learned the hard way. I was barbecuing for a friend with a friend. I was a sous chef for my friend, and he said, yeah, just chop the tomatoes for me. I chopped them the wrong way.

Matt:
How did you chop them?

Charlie:
Like, do you chop them crossways for burgers? Yeah,

Matt:
Yeah, yeah,

Charlie:
I did the other way. Yeah, yeah. And then he was like, oh my God, you idiot. And then he was like, all right, just barbecue the halloumi for me. And I put them on the meat patty So, like on the barbecue.

Matt:
Like plastic cheese.

Charlie:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's why I did it like that.

Matt:
Yeah, yeah. Fair enough. Makes sense. Yeah. Still. Yeah. Not gonna work.

Charlie:
No and forevermore he would remind me of that. Mhm. Um, but from that point I thought, oh, halloumi equals burger. But you. Yeah. Salad.

Matt:
Yeah. I would say, to be fair to you, halloumi is a bloody hard cheese to do on a barbecue.

Charlie:
Okay.

Matt:
If that Barbie's too hot it's melting straight through the bars. Okay. And if it's too cold, you're just having rubbery cold halloumi. So it's definitely a sweet spot, I think, with the heat. Well, to make the. I've definitely screwed up halloumi on a barbecue before.

Charlie:
Oh, interesting. Because I did it perfectly.

Matt:
Yeah. As I said.

Charlie:
So let's leave the small talk there. Yeah. So. Neighbourhoods in London. Mhm. Uh, stereotyping. Shoreditch first. Um. Home to 40 year old hipsters who still think vinyl is the future. Now, in previous episodes, you've said that Shoreditch is no longer the coolest area, which kind of rings true to what ChatGPT has just said. 40 year old hipsters. So the hipster that was originally kind of making hipster kind of movement cool would have been 25 ish. So ten, 15 years on,

Matt:
I think it's probably about right. Yeah, I think the vinyl bit probably rings true for all hipsters still. I would say that you can you can take the vinyl out. No, it doesn't work. But vinyl is I think, pretty. Yeah. Try it. Go on. Uh, you can take the hipsters out of Shoreditch, but you can't take the vinyl out of hipsters.

Charlie:
I kind of, I like that, yeah, I think that. Yeah, yeah.

Matt:
It works. Yeah. I don't think it'll catch on.

Charlie:
No, Not like vinyl with hipsters. You take them hipster out of short. Is that what you said?

Matt:
The hipster out of Shoreditch? The hipster out of Shoreditch.

Charlie:
But can you,

Matt:
Um. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, they take themselves, don't they? You're not doing it.

Charlie:
Come on, mate.

Matt:
Come on,

Charlie:
Let's go. On the Victoria line. You like the Elizabeth line, don't you?

Matt:
Come on, let's go to Haggerston now. I don't want to go to Haggerston. They've got vinyl there. Okay. Yeah. Easy.

Charlie:
We've got craft beer. But still think vinyl is the future. I think everyone knows that it's the past, but they're just holding. They're kind of being cool going back to it. Yeah. So fault for ChatGPT, but still pretty much on the money. Next one, Notting Hill. People who have no idea how much a pint of milk costs.

Matt:
I think this is true.

Charlie:
That's really good.

Matt:
I think this is true. I think this is. I like that there's I like that ChatGPT is kind of linked this to our British politicians who famously don't know the price of a loaf of bread or a pint of milk or whatever. I think that's probably where they would live. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Charlie:
It's, uh, it's also a home to incredibly expensive supermarkets. Like, they're really bougie boutique kind of, um, delis that I went to actually a couple of weeks ago when Stacey's parents were in and yeah, I think a milk, I think a litre of milk was extortionate. I don't know how much because I don't know how much of a pint of milk is.

Matt:
Oh, there you go.

Charlie:
But it was a lot of money.

Matt:
So I think it's very true. I think this one is perfectly on the money. Yeah. Um, I would say there's. It's weird. I think I've always found it strange that Notting Hill Carnival kind of is in Notting Hill. Yes, because it's quite a, um. It's a very, like rich cultural festival. That doesn't really ring true with just loads of completely detached, loaded like middle class people.

Charlie:
Yeah, yeah, it's very, very, um, what's the word? Not juxtaposition. No.

Matt:
Yeah,

Charlie:
Yeah. Not quite.

Matt:
No

Charlie:
It's very far from the truth.

Matt:
True.

Charlie:
Maybe. Yeah. Um, I've just googled it. Notting Hill Carnival is held in Notting Hill because of the area's historical and cultural significance, particularly in relation to the Caribbean community in London. Um, after World War Two, many Caribbean immigrants, particularly from Jamaica, settled in Notting Hill.

Matt:
All right. Fair enough. Yeah, that makes sense it works there then? Yeah.

Charlie:
There we go. uh, okay. So maybe it should be people who have no idea how much a pint of cost. A pint of costs. Milk, a pint of milk cost. Or people who enjoy Notting Hill Carnival And, uh, have a big speaker in their window.

Matt:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Notting Hill Carnival is central town when it comes to massive sound systems. Yeah, yeah.

Charlie:
Okay, Chelsea. Where people drink champagne for breakfast and consider it a cleanse.

Matt:
Yeah, again.

Charlie:
So we could just say rich. Rich. But it's not quite that. I think it's got a sort of subtle hint at something else there. Yeah. Which is quite clever of it. It is done AI.

Matt:
It's quite clever of it. It is. And what is that, do you think. It's the it's the wellness bit, isn't it. Cleanse is a wellness thing. Bullshit cleanses, by the way.

Charlie:
Really?

Matt:
Total bullshit.

Charlie:
Really? Really.

Matt:
What? What does, what does that mean? Cleanse? What? From you?

Charlie:
Well, are you meaning any cleanse?

Matt:
Yeah.

Charlie:
Like alcohol?

Matt:
Oh, well, not alcohol, but like cleanse what from your body? What are you cleansing? What are we getting rid of?

Charlie:
Toxins.

Matt:
Yeah, but your body does that anyway,

Charlie:
Right okay.

Matt:
Yeah i'm not, I think cleanse. I have no scientific literature that I can cite to say that that's a fact, but it's.

Charlie:
I mean, I think you're safe in saying that, um, drinking champagne for breakfast isn't a cleanse.

Matt:
Definitely not a cleanse. No. Um, it's. Yeah. I mean, it's lovely. Champagne for breakfast. Christmas day.

Charlie:
Christmas day.

Charlie:
Wedding. Oh, weddings is more lunch time, I feel like. Yeah. Christmas Day is the exception. I tend to have a bit of Bucks Fizz and a wedding on the first drink. I think.

Matt:
I go Bucks Fizz Christmas day.

Charlie:
Christmas day.

Matt:
Bucks fizz. Scrambled egg. Smoked salmon. Open your presents.

Charlie:
Eat your presents. Eat your presents. Uh, okay. That's Chelsea then. Any more to add to Chelsea? If you were to be the stereotyper.

Matt:
I mean, without being incredibly rude to people who enjoy Chelsea, it's very boring.

Charlie:
I didn't see that coming.

Matt:
It's very. It is. But like, being rich isn't a personality. Like it's so.

Charlie:
Oh, that's a really good comment, though.

Matt:
Yeah. It's just so vacant of authenticity and culture. And it's just it's just like wealth. Wealth is not. Yeah. It's not a personality or a it's very. Yeah. It's boring.

Charlie:
Okay, I like that I like that.

Matt:
Sorry people who live in Chelsea.

Charlie:
Uh, Camden is up next. Punks who refused to accept that the 70s ended.

Matt:
I think that's perfect..

Charlie:
Yeah, I thought that was quite, quite astute.

Matt:
I think I yeah, if you're going to come to London and you want to see some punks. The only place you can see them is in Camden.

Charlie:
Yeah, yeah. Leather jackets galore. Yeah.

Matt:
Spikes. yeah.

Charlie:
Tats

Matt:
Tats of Doc Martens. Hair. Yeah. Purple hair. Doc Martens. Doc Martens safety pins.

Charlie:
Oh I see. Where?

Matt:
Just as, like, clothing accessories.

Charlie:
Yeah. Okay. Badges. Like movement badges on a backpack.

Matt:
100%. And holes in clothes. Mhm. That's very punk.

Charlie:
Yes. It does overlap with Topman. It does. Or River Island now? Yeah. Topman.

Matt:
Is that rest in peace for Topman.

Charlie:
It was my left hand. It felt very unnatural. It was sort of zig zag.

Matt:
Yeah. What happened to Topman?

Charlie:
It went online to Asos, I think.

Matt:
Oh did it?

Charlie:
I think so, says my fashionista wife. Um, okay, so that's Camden. Yeah.

Matt:
Again? Yeah. Spot on.

Charlie:
Well done. Yeah. Brixton. Now. I haven't been to Brixton in a while. Creative souls and foodies all carrying reusable coffee cups.

Matt:
I don't think that is Brixton.

Charlie:
I thought Brixton the stereotype would be. Watch out you're going to get mugged.

Matt:
Yeah. Yeah, it's a it's a lot. Brixton.

Charlie:
And heavy music scene.

Matt:
Um, they do have some live music venues. It's. Brixton is fun, but you really have to be in the mood for it. It's quite hectic, especially on a Friday or a Saturday night.

Charlie:
Okay.

Matt:
It's pretty full-on. Yeah. Um, and it's.

Charlie:
And to compare it to like Clapham, which is also incredibly hectic on a Friday or Saturday night. But there's a very big difference. There is a big difference.

Matt:
That's true. What is that?

Charlie:
Is it just the demographic full of Aussies in Clapham?

Matt:
Very true.

Charlie:
On their gap year. And then in Brixton, it's it's Londoners.

Matt:
Yeah. I think, uh, yeah. Brixton is very Londoners. There's a lot of people who live in Brixton who've lived in Brixton a long time. Um, yeah. It's. I think Brixton. Brixton feels a lot more compact. It feels like it's spread over a smaller area. It feels. Yeah. It feels like there's a lot going on in a very small space. There is the Brixton O2 so there is a big live music venue there. Maybe that adds to it as well because people come out of that and there's obviously a big crowd. So yeah it's yeah it's quite full on. I wouldn't say it's um like reusable coffee cups.

Charlie:
No, no I would have. Where would you put reusable coffee cups on the map?

Matt:
Peak reusable coffee cups?

Yeah, is that like angel?

Matt:
Mhm. Maybe it's very, uh. Maybe somewhere in West as well. Maybe. Maybe Hampstead. Maybe would be more reusable coffee cups kind of area. Okay. Like you're kind of. Yeah. Like strong. Like kind of a champagne socialist. Labourites. Very Guardian reader. Yeah. I think that's maybe Hampstead.

Charlie:
Oh, okay. I just prompted ChatGPT to do Hampstead. Artists and intellectuals who can afford to live like aristocrats. Yeah. Yeah. They they would use reusable cups.

Matt:
Definitely. Definitely.

Charlie:
Okay. Um. So next one, Kensington, where children are tutored in Latin before they can walk.

Matt:
That is really witty.

Charlie:
That is witty.

Matt:
How have these AI, how have we got to like, large language models that are like, well, it's funny you ask that. And they've got a little quip.

Charlie:
Yeah, I know.

Matt:
Why?

Charlie:
I know they're, but they're sourcing the internet for this, aren't they? Like, it's all based on what's already been written, right?

Matt:
Right.

Charlie:
So somewhere along the lines, they found this combination of, oh, it'll be funny if we put these two things together.

Matt:
Right. Yeah. Maybe.

Charlie:
Spot on.

Matt:
Maybe prompting stereotype is likely to garner some funny.

Charlie:
Yes. That's true. Stereotype does exist around comedy. Mostly. So agree, disagree? Extension? Perfect?

Matt:
I would agree. Kensington for me is. Yeah, it's it's the most west London place. It's peak, west London. It's it's almost royalty. West London, isn't it.

Charlie:
Yes, yes. And mostly privately educated schools,

Matt:
I would say 100% privately educated schools.

Charlie:
And that's the joke. Tutored in Latin before they can walk. We don't really do Latin in British schooling systems. So yeah. Highly educated.

Matt:
Yeah, I would say I don't know if there is any public schools left in Kensington. Yeah.

Charlie:
Or state school. Sorry. State schools. Okay, Hackney. Vegan friendly hipsters who cycle everywhere and grow their own kale.

Matt:
Kale. Yeah. Fair enough. It could have been anything. But yeah, kale is the most hipster vegetable, isn't it?

Charlie:
Yeah. It's a very wellness kind of vegetable. Is it a vegetable?

Matt:
It is a vegetable. Yeah. I feel I feel like kale is the.

Charlie:
You got to massage a kale, haven't you. Otherwise it upsets the stomach.

Matt:
Kale. Do you?

Charlie:
I think so.

Matt:
No,

Charlie:
No, I think so.

Matt:
Google it.

Charlie:
I feel like, honestly. Yeah. Uh. It has. Okay. Why does kale need to be.

Matt:
A bloody good rub down.

Charlie:
Massaged before consuming? So you massage it with oil. Raw, raw kale can be tough and fibrous, making it difficult to chew. Uh, massaging it with oil helps to break down the tough cellular structure, making the leaves more tender and palatable by breaking down the cell walls through massaging. Kale becomes easier, easier to digest. This can be especially helpful for people who have difficulty digesting raw vegetables.

Matt:
I think if you've got a problem digesting raw vegetables, just cook your kale. I feel like giving it a good massage with oil. That's that is.

Charlie:
I've spent many a day, many a evening massaging. I actually.

Matt:
Don't bloody lie.

Charlie:
I don't even cook. But I was the sous chef a couple of times with the kale. Rubbing oil into it.

Matt:
Yeah. Is that too hard or. Yeah.

Charlie:
Can I get some feedback from you, kale?

Matt:
Is that. Are we good? Yeah. Okay, good. Um, yeah, I think kale. Kale is like the new avocado, isn't it? Yes. Pretty much yes.

Charlie:
So, Hackney, you mentioned earlier in a previous episode.

Charlie:
It's a cool place. Still cool in 2024, in your opinion? Vegan friendly hipsters. That's essentially. quote unquote. 'Cool'.

Matt:
Quote unquote.

Charlie:
Who cycle everywhere. Um, do they,

Matt:
Uh, maybe maybe that's a little off. Yeah.

Charlie:
Is that off? Hackney's not very cycle friendly.

Matt:
I don't think any of London is cycle friendly. Is it?

Charlie:
Interesting.

Matt:
Yeah. Mhm. It's quite terrifying cycling in London really in comparison to anywhere else. I mean, it's not as bad as it used to be but my god. Yeah.

Charlie:
The other day I was, um. I was surprised by how friendly a bus driver was to me coming into the road as a cyclist. I remember cycling in Santiago de Chile, and the bus drivers really felt like it was a game to just frighten me to death. So not great infrastructure, but still, maybe the mindset is not so evil. Mhm. Of everyone. But still a lot of London drivers really want to knock a cyclist off their bike.

Matt:
Yeah. It's really weird. It's really weird. It's so there's a lot of London. You're like, why are these roads like why has Oxford Street not been pedestrianised? I know that is amazing that it still shocks me that you can drive through London like the central part. Yeah.

Matt:
It's weird.

Charlie:
Uh, Clapham. You know Clapham very well. All too well. Full of young professionals who talk about their gap year in South America.

Matt:
Next. Yeah, yeah, that's very true, actually. Um, yeah.

Charlie:
I said earlier that it's full of Aussies, which it is. It is. Yeah. Our neighbours were Aussies. Big house of them. Oh, yeah.

Matt:
Oh, yeah.

Charlie:
Did you ever combine house parties?

Matt:
Uh, we went to a couple of their house parties. Nuts. Nuts. So many Aussies.

Charlie:
Is there a stereotype of Aussies in London? Like, what would you think of them?

Matt:
Um, they work behind the bar. They work behind a bar. If we're talking stereotypes here. Sorry. Australians?

Charlie:
No, that's. That's the whole point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Work behind a bar.

Matt:
Work behind the bar. Yeah. Get incredibly loose on Clapham Common and then go to that festival on Clapham Common.

Charlie:
Oh, yeah.

Matt:
Oh. Um, I'm thinking South by Southwest. But it's not that. It's something like that. Another little Google.

Charlie:
South West four festival.

Matt:
That's it. Yeah. SW4.

Charlie:
Um, so that was the technically that was the first, uh, festival I went to, but I didn't actually go inside. Okay. I went up as a 16 year old to try and sell a shit ton of those sort of, um, elastic band fling up in the air and then twizzle down with lights on them.

Matt:
Why?

Charlie:
The guy from my cricket club. Yeah. Was a complete Del Boy. Right. And he was like, I'm just going to hire two of these 16 year old kids from the club to come up with me and sell them outside of the gates and make a fortune. We got up there, we flung two up in the sky. We tried to sell to three people. And then, you know, the, like, bouncers with, uh. What's that word?

Matt:
Lanyard.

Charlie:
Lanyards came over and said, do you have a license? He said, no. They said, fuck off.

Matt:
And that was it?

Charlie:
That was it. So we got a McDonalds and went back home. So we drove all the way up to London for that, which was a two hour round trip.

Matt:
Wow. That's an afternoon well spent, isn't it? I mean, you didn't miss out very much. I mean,

Charlie:
Do you not like that festival?

Matt:
Who's headlining this year? Um, if it isn't disclosure?

Charlie:
Martin Garrix.

Matt:
Oh, dear.

Charlie:
Main stage. Yeah. Do you know that?

Matt:
I know of Martin Van Helden? We're not good mates. Van Helden,

Charlie:
Armin van van Helden,

Matt:
Armin van Helden. Yeah.

Charlie:
Uh, Marvin. Humes. Humas.

Matt:
no cant be with you that one. Yeah

Charlie:
Okay. So that's Clapham. Westminster. Tourists and politicians trying to avoid each other.

Matt:
These are good.

Charlie:
That is really accurate.

Matt:
These are good. Yeah, these are really, really good.

Charlie:
Politicians going about their day. Yeah. And tourists lapping up London.

Matt:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think Westminster is, um, the epicentre for a London tourist. Yeah. You've got to see Big Ben. Yeah. If nothing else, you go in, Ben, you go in Tussauds and you go in dungeons. Those have got to be the top three sites.

Charlie:
What's the big church? Abbey. The abbey.

London Abbey.

Charlie:
The London Abbey.

Matt:
Westminster Abbey.

Charlie:
Westminster Abbey.

Matt:
London Abbey. Lovely. London Abbey. Which one? The one in London.

Charlie:
How's Abbey treating you? Um, yeah. So spot on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, let's do one more. Um, Richmond. Where the upper middle class go to feel like they're in the countryside.

Matt:
Oh, yeah. Yeah, these are bang on. Like, I wouldn't. I wouldn't change any of these. Richmond is lovely. Yeah, it is lovely, but it is sort of like going back to Dorset.

Charlie:
Oh, yes. Yes, I can see that for you.

Matt:
It even has like a little town centre bit to it. Yeah. But yeah. It's lovely. Great park.

Charlie:
It is a great park and you can walk around with wild deer just chilling out.

Matt:
Yeah. You can. Yeah.

Charlie:
And that's where the hilarious viral video, that was one of the first viral videos. I remember where the dog went, like running after the deer. And then the owner shouted out, Fenton! Yeah, Fenton! Fenton! Fenton! For about 15 times. Um, because the. Yeah, it was chasing after the deer.

Matt:
Yeah, yeah. That era of viral videos just feels kind of like the proto internet. Yes, that videos that were so rare.

Charlie:
Yeah, they were so rare. And it was really nice how I remember I would come over to your flat or your house in university, second year particularly, and we would share videos. We'd be like, have you seen this one?

Matt:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Charlie:
And you'd watch it together and you'd laugh.

Matt:
You'd laugh. You'd seen it 16 times before, but you'd show someone else. They would laugh and you would laugh again. And now you have compilations of funny videos that stretch into the far horizon of time. I think you couldn't watch all of the funny videos and complete them, because they're just created and added at such a pace. Yeah, you'd never run out.

Charlie:
There's there's only so many times you can poo in a day. Yeah. And yeah, you can only watch 20 minutes tops. Yeah, yeah yeah.

Matt:
You couldn't you couldn't possibly beat it. You can't beat it. Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah. So, yeah, that felt like a very special time for a funny video, because if you got a good one,

Charlie:
It was.

Matt:
Like the Fenton one.

Charlie:
And somebody said, Ben, who's been on this podcast, he said, the internet killed the magic trick at a party when we were younger. I feel like that happened like somebody knew a trick and you'd be like, oh, I've never seen this before. But like, since the internet, everyone knows everything. Like, oh yeah, I know how to do that. And that's not really done now.

Matt:
I haven't seen a magic trick in years.

Speaker1:
Yeah, yeah. Is that because of the internet, do you think? Or is that because we're adults?

Matt:
Maybe because I don't have clowns coming to my birthdays anymore. Yeah, yeah,

Charlie:
But there was always that, like, that was a, like, card trick or something that, like, your dad's friend would like. Yeah. Like. Oh, have you seen this?

Matt:
Yeah. Did you ever see the pen through the hand one?

Charlie:
I think I did, but I can't remember how they did it.

Matt:
So that was a, um, I won't because I'll kind of move away. But it was a sort of doing this movement push pushing for those who are just catching this on audio, pushing the pen through the hand on the top and moving it, the pen with the hand back further and further, swiftly slotting the pen behind the hidden ear.

Charlie:
Oh yes, the ear.

Matt:
As you're sideways to somebody and then the pen disappears through the hand.

Charlie:
Ah yeah, that was it.

Matt:
I remember seeing that for the first time and just being like,

Charlie:
I remember having that done to me actually. Yeah. Yeah. That was good. Yeah. Right. Okay. We've come to the end of the list. So there we are, the stereotypes of the boroughs of London. Thank you very much, Matt, for taking part in this one.

Matt:
Lovely. Thank you Charlie.

Charlie:
All right. Well done guys. See you next time on the British English Podcast. Bye bye. Goodbye.