Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,221, Buffing Up Home Security.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,221.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Jocelyn and Martin about increasing or improving your security at home, making sure you are safe in your house.
Let's get started.
Why do you look so upset?
Our neighbor's house was broken into last night.
The burglar stole her laptop and some jewelry.
Like us, she doesn't have a security system.
Burglar alarms aren't foolproof.
Well...
I'm not letting any burglars get close to our house.
Let's go.
Where are we going?
To the home improvement store.
We need to buff up our security.
I want to install motion detectors, floodlights, and security cameras to the outside of the house.
I suppose that's a good idea.
I also want to put a timer on our indoor lights and a better deadbolt for the front door.
Those will probably help.
We can find out the cost of metal bars for the windows and a security door.
Whoa, I think that might be a bit much.
Nonsense.
If we're going to do something, we're going to do it right.
Barbed wire on top of our fence would probably be next.
And last but not least, we'll need an attack dog.
An attack dog?
This is sounding more... like a military compound than a home.
That's right.
When I'm done, Fort Knox will have nothing on us.
Martin asks Jocelyn, Why do you look so upset?
Upset, U-P-S-E-T, means angry or concerned or worried.
Joslyn says, Our neighbor's house was broken into last night.
The house of Joslyn's neighbor, the person who lives next to her.
The phrasal verb to break into means to go into someone's house or a building or a car without permission, usually to steal something.
If the house was broken into, the house was entered by someone who probably went in to steal something.
In fact, that's exactly what happened as we learn in the next sentence.
Jocelyn says the burglar stole her laptop and some jewelry.
A burglar.
B-U-R-G-L-A-R is another word for a person who steals things.
A thief we might also call him.
This burglar stole her neighbor's laptop computer and some jewelry.
Joslyn says, like us, she doesn't have a security system.
Joslyn's neighbor does not have a security system, which is an electronic system that makes a loud noise or automatically calls the police if someone goes into a home or building without permission.
Where I live here in West Los Angeles, lots of houses have security systems.
Sometimes security systems are called burglar alarms.
An alarm A-L-A-R-M is a noise or some sort of signal that tells you that there's a problem or that indicates that something needs your attention.
A burglar alarm is another term for a security system.
Martin says burglar alarms aren't foolproof.
If something is foolproof, F-O-O-L-P-R-O-O-F, it is very easy to use and cannot fail.
The idea is that even a foolish or stupid person can use it correctly.
Here, it also refers to something that will always work, that will always be effective.
But Martin says burglar alarms are not foolproof.
Then he says to Joslyn, I'm not letting or allowing any burglars get close to our house.
Let's go.
Joslyn says, where are we going?
Martin says, to the home improvement store.
A home improvement store is a store that sells things for fixing your house or making changes to your house.
Martin says, we need to buff up our security.
The phrasal verb to buff B-U-F-F up means to make stronger or to increase the size or quantity of something.
If you're going to buff up your security, you're going to make it stronger or increase your security.
We also use this word when talking about the human body.
If you're going to buff up, you're going to make yourself stronger.
You're going to have bigger muscles.
We might describe a man or a woman who has big muscles as being buff.
That's an adjective.
As a verb, to buff up means to increase strength or size.
Martin wants to buff up his security.
He says I want to install motion detectors, floodlights and security cameras to the outside of the house.
These are three ways of increasing your security or how safe you are in a given place.
One thing Martin wants to install or put in is a motion detector.
The word detector comes from the verb to detect.
D-E-T-E-C-T.
To detect means to notice. or identify.
A motion detector is an object that can notice or detect when someone is moving in front of it.
A motion detector usually has a light attached to it, so when you walk in front of it, the light automatically comes on.
Floodlights F-L-O-O-D-L-I-G-H-T-S are large lights that produce a lot of illumination, a lot of light over a large area.
They're very strong lights.
Security cameras are cameras that record videos of a certain area.
Some buildings, for example, have security cameras.
Martin wants to get security cameras for his house.
Joslyn says, I suppose that's a good idea, referring to the idea of buffing up their security.
Martin says.
I also want to put a timer on our indoor lights and a better deadbolt for the front door.
A timer.
T-I-M-E-R is a device, a little machine that automatically turns something on or off at a certain time every day.
A timer on your indoor lights would automatically turn say, a lamp or other light on inside your house, so that people think that there is someone home, there is someone inside your house, even when you're not there.
A deadbolt.
D-E-A-D-B-O-L-T is a lock on your door.
That is basically a piece of metal that goes through a hole.
You have to use a key to turn the deadbolt to get the piece of metal to come out of the hole so you can open the door.
It's a more secure kind of lock on your door.
Joslyn agrees that these things will probably help in buffing up home security.
Martin continues.
However, We can find out the cost.
We can find out how much the price is of metal bars for the windows and a security door.
Martin thinks perhaps they should get metal bars.
Metal bars are long, heavy, or thick pieces of metal that go over your windows.
In some houses here in Los Angeles, especially in some of the poorer neighborhoods, you will see metal bars on the windows.
This prevents people from coming into the window.
You can't just break the window and enter the house because the metal bars will block you.
Martin wants metal bars, or at least he wants to investigate putting metal bars on the windows of their house.
He also wants to get a security door.
A security door is a very thick, strong door, often made of metal, but it could just be wood that is put on the front of a house or a building to protect it.
Joslyn now thinks that Martin is perhaps overreacting, doing too much.
She says, whoa, meaning stop or wait.
I think that might be a bit much, meaning too much.
Martin says, nonsense.
He disagrees with Jocelyn.
That's what that word nonsense means in this case.
I disagree strongly.
If we're going to do something wrong, we're going to do it right, meaning we're going to do it correctly.
He then says, barbed wire on the top of our fence would probably be next.
Barbed B-A-R-B-E-D wire are long, thin pieces of metal that have short ends, what we would describe as spiky bits to them, parts to them that will cut you if you touch them.
You will sometimes see barbed wire on the top of fences or walls around some very secure area, a military base installation or some other area where the business wants to prevent people from getting into that area.
Barbed wire is a pretty serious thing to put on top of your fence and some cities don't allow barbed wire unless you get special permission to put it there.
Joslyn doesn't think this is a good idea.
Martin says and last but not least meaning this is the last thing I will mention, but it isn't the least important we'll need an attack dog.
An attack dog would be a dog that has been trained to attack people when ordered to do so.
You could think of a big dog such as a German Shepherd or a Doberman Pinscher.
Jocelyn is now surprised at what Martin is saying.
She says, an attack dog?
This is sounding more like a military compound than a home.
A military compound.
C-O-M-P-O-U-N-D is an area of land that is owned by the army or some other military organization that is protected with a lot of security.
Martin says that's right.
When I'm done, Fort Knox will have nothing on us.
Fort Knox K-N-O-X is a army base located in the state of Kentucky in the United States, where the United States government traditionally has stored gold as part of the property of the US government.
Fort Knox is considered one of the most secure places in the US, or at least traditionally was considered that way.
People use that place now as sort of a representation of a very, very secure place.
To say that my house is like Fort Knox means that my house is as secure or as safe as Fort Knox because it is protected very well.
That's why Martin says when he's done, Fort Knox will have nothing on them.
When you use the expression to have nothing on someone, you mean that it will not be as good as what you have.
So if you say he has nothing on me, you mean he is not better than I am.
I am better than he is, or at least I'm as good as he is.
I could say, for example well, Brad Pitt is handsome, but he has nothing on me when it comes to charm, when it comes to personality, when it comes to not having any hair.
He has nothing on me.
He's not better than me in those areas.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Why do you look so upset?
Our neighbor's house was broken into last night.
The burglar stole her laptop and some jewelry.
Like us, she doesn't have a security system.
Burglar alarms aren't foolproof.
Well, I'm not letting any burglars get close to our house.
Let's go.
Where are we going?
To the home improvement store.
We need to buff up our security.
I want to install motion detectors, floodlights, and security cameras to the outside of the house.
I suppose that's a good idea.
I also want to put a timer on our indoor lights and a better deadbolt for the front door.
Those will probably help.
We can find out the cost of metal bars for the windows and a security door.
Whoa, I think that might be a bit much.
Nonsense.
If we're going to do something, we're going to do it right.
Barbed wire on top of our fence would probably be next.
That's not a good idea.
And last but not least, we'll need an attack dog.
An attack dog?
This is sounding more like a military compound than a home.
That's right.
When I'm done, Fort Knox will have nothing on us.
Oscar-winning scriptwriters have nothing on our scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say.
She writes the best scripts here in Los Angeles.
From the home of Hollywood, I am Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
