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老夫聊发少年狂

老夫聊發少年狂
lǎofūliáofāshàoniánkuáng
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 this old fellow for once lets loose a young man's wild spirit
  2. 2 reclaiming youthful verve in old age
  3. 3 Su Shi's boisterous self-portrait on a hunt

Examples

大叔笑着说：老夫聊发少年狂，跟年轻人一起去攀岩。
Dàshū xiàozhe shuō: lǎofū liáo fā shàonián kuáng, gēn niánqīngrén yīqǐ qù pānyán.
The older fellow laughed: 'this old man will play the wild young one for once,' and went rock-climbing with the young crowd.
六十岁参赛，他自嘲老夫聊发少年狂。
Liùshí suì cānsài, tā zìcháo lǎofū liáo fā shàonián kuáng.
Competing at sixty, he joked that he was 'an old man letting loose a young man's wildness.'

Tips

history
Opening line of Su Shi's (苏轼, Northern Song) 《江城子·密州出猎》 ('Jiangchengzi: Hunting at Mizhou'), written in 1075 when he was only 40 but already feeling old in office: 老夫聊发少年狂，左牵黄，右擎苍 — 'this old fellow, for once, lets loose a young man's wildness — a yellow hound on his left, a falcon on his right.' The lyric founded the 豪放 (bold-and-free) school of Song ci.
usage
聊 here is read liáo in the sense of 'for a moment, just this once,' not 'to chat.' The tone is self-mocking — the speaker knows he's too old for the antics he's about to indulge in.

Stroke Order

老 lǎo
夫 fū
聊 liáo
发 fā
少 shǎo
年 nián
狂 kuáng