This is an All Ears English podcast, Pesky Prefixes Part 1, Insecurity or Lack of Security.
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On part one of this three-part series about prefixes, Aubrey and Michelle talk about the word secure and common mistakes that are made when adding the prefix in to it.
Time to clear up any confusion so you can feel more secure starting today.
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Hello, Michelle.
How are you?
I'm doing well, Aubrey.
How are you?
Nice to see you.
Yes, always a pleasure recording with you.
I'm excited for this episode today.
I have a question for you to start us out.
Okay, let's hear it.
Were you insecure as a young person?
Yes.
Same.
I'm always impressed and kind of shocked when like a teenager isn't when they seem extremely confident and sure of themselves.
That was not me.
And it's hard because you know I think about.
I mean, you have like, older kids, so I'm sure you've gone through this with them, but you know it's so hard because I know that I'll have to deal with these things, these harder issues, with my kids as they grow up, because I was insecure again, like I think that it's very common and you just want to tell them It doesn't matter, right?
Because I'm, you're probably, I'm much more confident than I was.
When I was younger, right?
Yeah, you'll come into your own, right?
Right.
We've all been there.
We've all experienced insecurity, especially when we're young.
But it's interesting, because can a place be insecure, Michelle?
Interesting.
Yeah, no, right?
Not really, no.
A place can't be insecure.
And you would think, because often we'll add that prefix... to mean like not able to be.
So a lot of words we do add this.
This actually recently I heard a student make this mistake.
They said many cities have insecurity.
And what they meant was a lack of security, right?
They're unsafe.
Ah.
Right.
But it's tricky because we don't, yes, security, secure means safe.
That's what's tricky.
It can mean both confident and safe.
So it would make sense for insecure to mean both not confident and not safe, but it doesn't.
English is too tricky.
It is.
It's not going to make it that easy.
So, wow, this is going to be a really interesting topic.
Guys, we also want to let you know that.
Don't worry, Lindsay will be back.
She is on vacation.
So you will see her soon.
But today it's me.
It's it's.
The two of us.
Us two.
And we are going to share details about this vocabulary, secure and security and their opposites.
Thank you so much. at work.
If we're having to give a presentation and we're not confident about our public speaking.
This vocabulary can use to connect in a lot of different ways.
Definitely.
Yeah.
So guys, this is actually going to be a three-part series. so much fun.
So this will be sharing common mistakes with prefixes. so this is going to be great so hit follow for the rest of the series yes and i wanted to give a quick shout out to javier i chatted with him yesterday at open conversation club and he shared that he's been listening for 10 years He's currently living in Brussels.
So we were able to chat about that because I used to live there as an au pair.
But I love meeting a longtime listener.
So shout out to all of you out there who have listened for years.
It's always so fun to meet them.
For sure.
Thank you, Javier.
That is incredible.
And we're really thankful to have you listen to us.
Absolutely.
So let's dive in here.
So first of all, we're talking about the word secure, which can have two different meanings, right?
This is an adjective, but first it can mean confident.
For example, I'm secure in my sense of style, so I dress the way I like without worrying about others' opinions.
Nice.
Or she felt secure in her decision to change careers.
Exactly.
And this prefix in is often added to mean secure. not capable of being for example invisible incomplete and we do use it here we'll say insecure meaning not able to be confident right so maybe i sometimes feel insecure when i'm speaking spanish Because I know I'm making a lot of mistakes.
I have a feeling a lot of you out there feel that, right?
I do sometimes feel like, oh, are they noticing my mistakes?
I try to remember.
Connection, not perfection.
It's okay.
That's right.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Or you could say, sometimes I feel insecure about asking for help at work.
So maybe you feel you have to put on some sort of front.
You don't want to show any sort of weakness.
So you might say that you feel insecure.
Yeah, sometimes I feel insecure if I'm like recording a social media video.
I'm like, oh, I have to put on a little makeup, do my hair.
And whenever I go to record a social media video, I realize something about where I'm sitting.
I realize just how much frizz there is in my hair.
And then I go and I try and I try and get it down and I'm like okay, I did it.
And then I get there to go again and it's still there.
Still, we just have to embrace the frizz, you guys.
But it's hard to not feel insecure about one's appearance, whether you're a teenager or whether you're older, especially if it's like a video you're posting online.
If I'm just running to the grocery store, I could care less.
Right.
Yeah, yeah.
For a social media post, I get kind of insecure about what I look like.
Yeah, yeah.
No, I get it.
I get it.
Well, you always look beautiful.
Thank you.
But yeah, again, great topic for connection.
Because if you out there ever feel insecure whether it's about your appearance, your work performance, whatever it is you're not alone.
We all have those moments.
I don't think you'd be human if you never felt a little insecure.
But that's not the only way we use secure.
So another definition of secure is actually safe.
Yes, be safe.
So for example, the children felt secure playing in the fenced backyard.
And you could say safe there.
They felt safe.
They felt secure.
Often we'll say both.
They felt safe and secure, which is kind of redundant, but we say that sometimes.
Like extra safe.
Or this is an interesting one.
The building has security cameras to keep employees secure at all times.
So...
Notice security cameras, you'll hear that a lot.
Yeah, we're going to get into security here in a minute, but it's interesting, right?
Those security cameras keep employees secure or safe.
But here with this kind of definition, the safety one, we don't say insecure or unsecure.
But what do we say?
Instead, we say unsafe, right?
It's unsafe to walk alone in that part of town at night.
So this is interesting.
This is where you can't always just add in and expect it to mean the opposite of a word, especially for a word like secure, that has two meanings, you know safe and confident.
It's not always going to be following the rules of like add in and it means the opposite.
Yep.
Yeah, exactly.
And then we also have the nouns which Aubrey you kind of hinted at that we were going to get to with security and insecurity.
So security is a noun for safety.
So The airport has tight security to ensure passengers' safety.
Yes, or having a buddy while jogging gives me a sense of security.
Often when we're talking about security as safety, we'll say a sense of security.
I felt a sense of security.
And then here you can put the in in front of it.
So insecurity.
And what does that mean?
Yeah.
So this is a state of being vulnerable to danger and, But what's interesting here is we use it in pretty specific contexts.
We'll talk about job insecurity.
If you don't feel secure about your job.
Food insecurity for people who don't always know where their next meal is coming from.
You might say the organization provides meals to families facing food insecurity.
But what's interesting is this is not used to describe a place as unsafe.
Instead, we'll say a lack of security, right?
The city has a lack of security, or the city maybe the downtown is unsafe, to indicate that a place is not secure.
Yeah, really interesting.
So you might hear the building's broken locks created a lack of security for the residents.
Yeah, you wouldn't say created insecurity.
Exactly.
So this is really tricky.
You can see why the student made this mistake.
Possibly listeners out there.
You've made this mistake, maybe even without realizing, because this word it's really tricky where we have multiple meanings.
Some of them to make the opposite.
We can add that in for insecurity, but we don't use it in all contexts.
Hmm.
Yeah, it's tricky.
So, but then we also have the confident definition.
So insecurity, it can be also lack of confidence.
So I have a lot of insecurity about my singing voice.
Or his insecurity about his writing skills made him hesitant to submit the article.
But what's really interesting here?
As I was preparing this episode, I kept being like wow, this is so interesting.
Things we don't think about as native speakers sometimes, that we don't say security as the opposite of that to mean like a feeling of confidence in oneself.
I wouldn't say I feel security about my singing voice.
I would say I feel confident.
Right, exactly.
Yeah, very interesting.
I mean, we yeah, we do use security to mean a feeling of confidence in something external, though.
So like, I've gained security in my driving after practicing for months.
Or we might say sense of security, right?
So how would that sound?
So for example, having a supportive family gave her a strong sense of security in her life.
So it's interesting, because when we're talking about ourself, anything that's about self-confidence, we wouldn't say security.
We'll say confidence.
I feel confident about this.
I have confidence.
But then for something external, we definitely will say I feel a sense of security about my home, my neighborhood, when it's something external.
Interesting.
We'll see you next time on other sites.
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All right, we have a role play here to use a bunch of these meanings.
You and I are friends talking before a party here, Michelle.
I'll start us out.
Okay.
I'm feeling a bit of insecurity about tonight.
What if I don't know anyone?
Don't worry, you'll be fine.
I know a lot of people there and I feel secure in my ability to introduce people without making it awkward.
Oh, thanks.
I appreciate it.
You seem to know everyone.
Hopefully it's more secure than the place we went to downtown.
Oh, yeah.
The venue has good security, so at least we don't have to worry about that.
You can just relax and have fun.
Nice.
That definitely gives me a sense of security.
It should be fun tonight.
Good.
Yeah, let's go through this.
So we used a bunch of these here.
The first one, feeling insecure, right?
But it's interesting how here I'm talking about myself, right?
I'm feeling insecure.
I might not know anyone.
I feel like I'm not going to have anyone to talk to.
So I could say I feel insecure about tonight.
Or I could say feeling a bit of insecurity.
Yeah.
Which one to you feels more?
I would more likely say I feel insecure probably, or even like I feel uncomfortable.
I feel awkward.
There's a lot of ways we could say this when we're saying like, I don't feel confident.
Right.
I don't you might even just say I don't feel great about tonight.
But yeah, but guys, the point here is to show you how it can be used.
Exactly.
And then you said, I feel secure in my ability to introduce people.
And here you could say confident or secure.
Right, exactly.
And then we're going on to the safety aspect.
So you said, hopefully it's more secure than the place we went to downtown.
Yeah, meaning safer, right?
We went to someplace that did not feel secure.
Maybe there were no, there was no security.
Maybe it was really dark.
And then you said, oh, yeah, this venue has good security.
So that would probably mean cameras or, you know, security personnel.
Right.
Security guards.
Right.
So, yeah, that's another like a collocation you'll hear is a security guard.
Right.
Right.
That's a lot of celebrities have them.
Right.
Exactly.
Like a bodyguard, basically a person providing security.
Yes.
And then you said that definitely gives me a sense of security.
Yeah.
And so it's interesting because we're trying to use these in this role play.
A lot of these terms are quite formal.
Like in just the average daily conversation, I'd just be like, yeah, that makes me feel safer.
Right.
There are these more informal terms that we might use instead with like a friend.
But these could come up at work when we're talking about security at a conference, at a function, of course.
But one of the biggest takeaways here is it's really easy to make decisions with this language, because there are a lot of things that we would not describe as insecure or as having insecurity.
Right.
Yeah, it's really interesting.
Yeah, I think that this is really important to explain this.
And guys, as Just another part of the takeaway is to always be a little skeptical with those prefixes.
This is not something that a textbook is just going to start outlining for you.
So that's why we're here to really point it out for you.
And definitely, again, hit follow because we're going to be doing three parts of this series.
So this is the first part.
Hit follow because the next ones will be coming up soon.
Yes, I have been collecting mistakes that I hear native speakers make with prefixes.
Like just yesterday at Volleyball, I heard someone say undefensible and they meant indefensible.
There are so many of these little prefix mistakes we make.
Oh, and we make them all the time.
All the time.
And sometimes both will be possible or correct, right?
So I'm excited to dive into this.
Be sure to hit follow to get this whole series.
Okay.
Awesome.
Aubrey.
Well, thanks so much for talking with me today and guys, thank you for listening.
Yes.
Awesome.
See you next time, Michelle.
Bye.
Bye.
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