Talking like it's 1932

I have suspected for some while that the government has a secret plan to turn back time, the Tories because they think everything has been going downhill since the Great Reform Act*, the Lib Dems because it's the only way they're going to get into government again for another century.

This afternoon, I received disturbing evidence that the plan may be succeeding. As I manoeuvred my trolley away from the supermarket check-out and towards the exit, I heard a young man* exclaim, "I say!"

I didn't think anyone, ever, said "I say"** any more. I am certain I have never heard anyone say it before. I would have noticed. I first came across it in children's books, and though it's absolutely ubiquitous in interwar fiction, it seems bizarrely unsayable now. I think I tried once, but felt like such an idiot even in the contemplation that I never did.

The world is reversing on its axis. It is the only explanation.

*Definitely not a hooray henry. Quite the opposite.

**Exclamation mark optional.