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Episode: AEE 2320: Don't Underestimate your English

Author: Lindsay McMahon and Michelle Kaplan
Duration: 00:22:00

Episode Shownotes

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Full Transcript

00:00:00 Speaker_02
This is an all ears English podcast, episode 2320. Don't underestimate your English.

00:00:08 Speaker_01
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection.

00:00:25 Speaker_01
With your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl. Coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.

00:00:39 Speaker_01
And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe. Do you know English words that start with under? Today, learn four of them and find out how to use them in interesting English conversations.

00:00:58 Speaker_01
Listen in today. Hey, Michelle. How's it going today? Good, Lindsay. How are you? Oh, I'm good. But I have a deep question for you here. You ready? Oh, OK. Oh, gosh. What is it? Well, Michelle, has anyone ever underestimated you in your life?

00:01:17 Speaker_01
Oh, that is a deep question. I mean, deep right from the start today.

00:01:23 Speaker_02
Yes. Has anyone ever underestimated me? I think so. I mean, I think that I think, unfortunately, I think that that's just like a fact of life. Some people might not think the best of people.

00:01:39 Speaker_02
So I guess in some ways, maybe in my moving away, when I moved to New York, people thinking, oh, maybe that I would move back or, you know, so certain things like that. But not too bad.

00:01:57 Speaker_02
I mean, I felt pretty supportive, but I'd have to think of a even more specific example. But what about you? Can you think of anything? I mean, maybe as a business owner, you've had, you've had this?

00:02:08 Speaker_01
Yeah, I don't have any specific times, but certainly I think definitely I've been underestimated and overestimated for that matter. at different times in my life, and I've done the same thing to other people, right?

00:02:20 Speaker_01
It's just the human brain, the way it works is we jump to conclusions as quickly as we can. That's the way we evolved to protect ourselves as humans, right?

00:02:30 Speaker_01
So if we get a sense that maybe someone won't be able to do something, we jump to that conclusion instead of questioning that, right? Which is a bad habit. Which is a bad habit. It is, it is.

00:02:41 Speaker_02
So, but today we are going to answer a listener question based on another episode of All Ears English that we did in the past. So, I'm excited for this one because it's kind of like a part two.

00:02:53 Speaker_01
Yes.

00:02:53 Speaker_02
Yeah, this question was from YouTube and it's just a it's a quick one.

00:02:58 Speaker_02
It just it's from q u q no excuse me that's a w q w q w o four two four and the question is just can you do an episode uh to the for the prefix stuff on for the prefix under yep that the opposite

00:03:15 Speaker_02
of over yeah because we did another episode right yeah on over and again what was that episode name what was the name this was all there's english don't overdo it with textbook english so we have a lot of ones with over so definitely after you listen to this one listen to that one because i mean under and over their opposites and these are all super common so they'll be very useful to you

00:03:39 Speaker_01
And they usually come together, as I showed you at the top of the episode, overestimate, underestimate, right? They usually come together. You need to be able to say both and usually and often use both in a sentence, right?

00:03:52 Speaker_01
So, Michelle, let's get into under as a prefix. What does it mean?

00:03:56 Speaker_02
Yeah, well, it means lower, below, or less. Yeah, generally. So today we're going to focus on verbs. It doesn't, it doesn't always, but here's what's interesting. It doesn't always work out with that meaning.

00:04:11 Speaker_02
So this is where it becomes tricky with prefixes. Sometimes they're just part of the word. So I was thinking about the word understand. Oh, true, true. You can't really logic your way through that one, that it's just a prefix. It's not really a

00:04:24 Speaker_02
Prefix here. It's just the whole word. But how in the world are we supposed to know that that's a great question?

00:04:32 Speaker_01
Never thought about that, but it's true. I'm sure there are other ones. Are there any others that we know of that? Act that way. It's actually a word. It looks like a prefix, but it's a word. Oh, you know what? We should do a whole episode about that.

00:04:45 Speaker_02
Yeah, where you think that, I mean, it could be about a lot of different prefixes. We could just have a list of things that it seems like a prefix, but it's just a word.

00:04:54 Speaker_01
It kind of makes sense if you think about it, if you test it, if you say the word stand, does that work on its own? No, it doesn't work on its own. Like understand, right? We take out the prefix, the word stand doesn't make sense.

00:05:09 Speaker_01
to tell me what I'm saying in a context.

00:05:12 Speaker_02
The word stand, of course, is a word, but if you're looking at a sentence and you see understand and then you try to take stand in itself, it doesn't make sense. So that could be a strategy.

00:05:25 Speaker_02
But yeah, some of it is just practice, but we can talk about that more another time.

00:05:29 Speaker_01
Yes. Michelle, let's get into some examples then. Some examples.

00:05:34 Speaker_02
Yeah, these ones do work as a prefix. Yes. So that's what we're going to focus on today. So Lindsay, well, let's start with underestimate, actually, because we already talked about that in the beginning. So let's start with that one.

00:05:47 Speaker_02
So in the other episode, we did do overestimate. So this goes to show you this one, you can kind of go back and forth between and just switch them. So what is underestimate?

00:05:59 Speaker_01
Well, this is the idea that we think that someone, something or someone will do something less well than they might do, right? Someone is less capable. Okay.

00:06:14 Speaker_02
Right. So yeah.

00:06:15 Speaker_01
Yeah. Yeah. Mm hmm.

00:06:17 Speaker_02
Exactly. So I think this is often used to talk about potential and what people think others can do. So, for example, I underestimated her singing voice. She is a powerhouse.

00:06:29 Speaker_01
So what does that mean? What did I think? I thought that her singing voice was less powerful, less beautiful. I didn't think she had a good singing voice, but she was a powerhouse. You see this a lot with, I feel like with female singers who maybe are

00:06:46 Speaker_01
uh, smaller, physically smaller, right? Oh, interesting. Yeah. You wouldn't expect like a really big voice. Exactly. I don't know what Lady Gaga's journey was like.

00:06:55 Speaker_01
Maybe she was not underestimated, but I feel like sometimes when you're physically smaller, you could be underestimated.

00:07:01 Speaker_01
And if we're anything, not just your singing voice, but in a lot around like your capabilities or something, sometimes don't you think, don't you think at least in American culture, I think that can happen sometimes.

00:07:11 Speaker_02
Well, I think this is also, yeah, this is also, I mean, the very popular topic for things like movies. I mean, the underdog story under, you know, this is huge in our culture about the underdog. They were underestimated and look what they did.

00:07:27 Speaker_02
Even something, I don't know why this is the first thing that comes to my mind, but the movie Babe. I wrote that movie because I recently watched it with my son. And yeah, he was underestimated. And then it turns out he was amazing, you know, as a pig.

00:07:41 Speaker_02
And it turns out he has amazing talent. But I mean, this is just such a huge topic in our culture, I think.

00:07:49 Speaker_01
It's so true. It's huge. It's huge. Or here's another sample sentence. I should have bought more salmon. I really underestimated how much we need. And now this is about guessing, maybe you're hosting a party.

00:08:02 Speaker_01
you think you're going to need three pounds of salmon, you actually needed six pounds of salmon, right? Right.

00:08:07 Speaker_02
So this one is a little bit different than, you know, this is a little bit more practical just about the numbers. You're not thinking anything less of the salmon, right? We're not under...

00:08:21 Speaker_01
We're not judging the salmon. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, going back to the conversation about physical height though, often you ever like find out that a star is shorter, is actually on the shorter side and you're kind of shocked.

00:08:35 Speaker_01
Like, um, Reese Witherspoon is supposed to be quite short. And that's, I never would have imagined that because the way they put them in the movies, you don't really notice. And we know that Tom Cruise is very... That's who I was thinking of. Yeah.

00:08:47 Speaker_01
And it's just funny because we see them as these larger than life figures. We don't see them as physically shorter. It's just, I don't know, it's just fascinating.

00:08:56 Speaker_02
It is always fun. Like every once in a while, I'll see a celebrity on TV and then I'll think, how tall is that celebrity?

00:09:02 Speaker_01
And I look it up.

00:09:03 Speaker_02
It's always kind of surprising. kind of just a human height, like a 5'4 or a 5'5. It's not like, oh, really? That person, I just see them on TV. They're larger than life. They could actually just stand next to me and be, it's just funny.

00:09:15 Speaker_01
It's funny to think about, right? Yeah. It's really strange. Interesting. Okay, we're back. So, Michelle, what would be another example of the under used as a prefix for our listeners? Okay.

00:09:26 Speaker_01
Well, we're actually going to go back up because we skipped this one because we wanted to do underestimate.

00:09:30 Speaker_02
No, that's okay. So this is underplay. Yes. So this is interesting. So this means to behave in a way that shows something is not as important as the reality.

00:09:41 Speaker_01
Interesting. Yeah, and this one is not as much in my I usually say downplay. Does that mean the same thing? Would you say downplay? Yeah, it's Yeah, underplay.

00:09:52 Speaker_02
Yeah, you know what that one I think is a little bit more more common, but I would hear underplay too. Yeah. So I'm looking in the

00:09:59 Speaker_02
AI overview now to make, oh, that is where I got it, to make something seem less important than it actually is or to give it too little attention.

00:10:06 Speaker_01
I mean, our listeners should know both. They should know they have options. You can say downplay something or you can say underplay. Is this used a lot with politics? I would say so. You want to downplay or underplay a theme.

00:10:20 Speaker_01
Maybe you've been pinned as being pro-this, pro-that, but you're trying to get the broad electorate on your side, so you have to downplay or underplay.

00:10:30 Speaker_02
Right, right, right, right. So you could say she tried to underplay her negative comments by drawing attention to the missteps of her opponent. I must have written this a few weeks ago.

00:10:43 Speaker_01
Oh, right, right, right. Yeah. So drawing attention away from something to distract, right? This is what politicians do for sure. OK, so underplay is a less common one, but good to know. What else, Michelle? What are some other ones we should know?

00:10:57 Speaker_02
So this is undercharged. So in the other episode, we did overcharge, but you can also be undercharged. So Lindsay, what does it mean if you're undercharged?

00:11:08 Speaker_01
I don't actually know what this means. I don't know what this means. I never use this. Oh, I see what you mean. You mean, with money? Okay, I thought you meant somehow with energy or something. I don't know what a battery is undercharged. That's funny.

00:11:23 Speaker_01
When someone undercharges you, right? So you would then be undercharged. They didn't charge you what you were supposed to pay, right? You were charged less than what you should have paid. So she undercharged me. I'm going to tell her to adjust the bill.

00:11:39 Speaker_01
And this is always a test of your true honesty,

00:11:43 Speaker_02
I know, I know. I mean, it happens to everybody. Sometimes you look at the bill and you're like, oh, they didn't put my coffee on there. I mean, yeah, what do you do, Lindsay?

00:11:56 Speaker_01
It depends on the scenario, but it's truly a, you know,

00:12:01 Speaker_01
Sometimes if I know that the person might get in trouble, then I really want to make sure, you know, if it's, I don't know, like a waiter, a waitress, and they're going to end up having to pay the difference or something, then for sure, you know, but this is moments in life that are presented to us here are a chance to get to know who we are, right?

00:12:21 Speaker_01
Yeah. These moments. That's true.

00:12:23 Speaker_02
I, I've definitely, uh, told people that they've undercharged before me before, because I have a, my conscious eats away at me. I'm not saying I've done it every single time, but I just, I'm not very, yeah.

00:12:36 Speaker_02
So I think it's something about, I'm very honest. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like my, my dad in that way. He can't, that's very strong conscious. Yeah. But I'm not saying I would do it every time.

00:12:48 Speaker_02
So there are a lot of times I would, but sometimes when that happens, then they just tell me, thank you so much for telling us and it's okay. Don't worry about it.

00:12:57 Speaker_01
But then and then you win. You're a big winner because you feel good about yourself, right? And you got something for free.

00:13:04 Speaker_01
I think it's a really good way to go through life, just to have that conscience, that inner, like, I don't know, that inner center of gravity of what's right. It's, you know, it's the right thing to do, right? Yeah, I mean,

00:13:19 Speaker_02
Yeah, I try. And then I forget the other point that I was going to make.

00:13:23 Speaker_01
OK, well, let's move on. Yeah, I love this next one. This is very high level. I feel like this is a quality of a C1 level speaker when they're able to use this word. What is it, Michelle? Undermine to make something weaker.

00:13:40 Speaker_01
This could be over a long period of time, and it might be a little subtle below the surface, not outwardly clear, but it's happening below the surface. I just, I just, can you overmind something? No, I don't think that's a word.

00:13:56 Speaker_02
Yeah, exactly. But, um, I was just thinking is undermine technically, is that technically a prefix?

00:14:03 Speaker_01
I don't know, actually, technically, but I think it's an important word for an important word to learn. Okay, good. So I don't think it actually is, but I want our listeners to know this. It doesn't matter what kind of part of speech it is.

00:14:15 Speaker_01
I think it's a marker of a high level speaker. So let's make sure we know what it means.

00:14:19 Speaker_02
Yeah. Yes, exactly. So to make something weaker. So sometimes over a long time or not outwardly. So this is so here's an example. He didn't mean to undermine her, undermine her when she was talking. She seemed really embarrassed. So what do you think?

00:14:38 Speaker_02
What would that mean?

00:14:39 Speaker_01
Oh my gosh, so he challenged her in a way that kind of degraded her position in the eyes of others. That's how I see it, right?

00:14:48 Speaker_01
So when you undermine someone, you're kind of poking holes, maybe you're challenging them, you are lessening their status in a way.

00:14:57 Speaker_02
Right. Their ego. Yeah.

00:14:59 Speaker_01
And not just ego, but the message, you know, let's say she's giving a speech and there's 100 people watching her and he's asking questions that are not honest questions.

00:15:09 Speaker_01
They're actually just sort of meant to make the audience question her whole argument. That would be undermining her. Right.

00:15:17 Speaker_02
Yeah.

00:15:17 Speaker_01
Yeah.

00:15:18 Speaker_02
That's sticky.

00:15:19 Speaker_01
And we can see this in larger societal shifts, too. You could say a government could undermine democracy hypothetically. Right. By doing certain things that loosen it or just degrade it in a sense.

00:15:32 Speaker_01
This could be used in a lot of ways beyond just the interpersonal, Michelle. Right.

00:15:37 Speaker_02
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and do you think you can accidentally undermine someone?

00:15:43 Speaker_01
Yeah, I think you can accidentally, unintentionally, and then maybe they bring it up to you and then you apologize. You say you didn't realize that you were doing that. I think you could unintentionally do it. Yeah, by asking certain questions.

00:15:56 Speaker_01
What do you think, Michelle?

00:15:57 Speaker_02
Yeah, I think so too. If you're asking very pointed questions in front of a large group of people and Maybe you're genuinely asking them, you didn't really think that you were undermining them, but it came off in a way that sounded like you were.

00:16:13 Speaker_01
Super high-level term, and it sounds great. It sounds high-level, it sounds intellectual. So guys, use this term as much as you can, okay? Yes. All right.

00:16:23 Speaker_02
So we are going to do a role play in just a second, but we want to remind you guys, please hit the follow button wherever you are listening to All Ears English. So you never miss anything from us. Yes. Good. Hit that follow button.

00:16:34 Speaker_01
Michelle, now we are in a coffee shop. All right.

00:16:39 Speaker_02
We're going over the bell. So here we go.

00:16:41 Speaker_01
All right. Oh, no.

00:16:42 Speaker_02
I think she undercharged us for the coffee. Oh, actually, she told me she was giving us a discount because she knows our boss. Nice. I always underestimate how nice people can be.

00:16:53 Speaker_01
It's OK. She meant to underplay it. She didn't do it for attention. Yeah. Hey, Michelle, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to undermine you earlier when you were sharing your opinion about our customer service line or about our customer service line.

00:17:06 Speaker_01
It really is a good idea. Oh, thanks, Lindsay. I appreciate that. She feels like a very common, conversation topic, right? Hear what we're talking about. We're moving in and out of topics. Very natural.

00:17:17 Speaker_02
Yeah, absolutely. So let's go through it. So you said, oh, no, I think she undercharged us for the coffee, meaning she charged us less than it actually cost.

00:17:27 Speaker_01
Yep. And then I said, nice. I always underestimate how nice people can be. Right and yeah, and then you said it's okay. She meant to underplay it. She didn't do it for attention So what does that mean?

00:17:40 Speaker_02
What did she she meant to she didn't want to draw attention to it? She she just kind of did it in a smooth way without saying too much.

00:17:48 Speaker_01
I That's nice. Yeah, good. And then I said, yeah. Hey, Michelle, I'm sorry. And I'm going to another going back to change the subject. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to undermine you earlier. So you can undermine someone's argument or you can undermine someone.

00:18:04 Speaker_01
Right, Michelle? Yes. Yes. Absolutely. You can undermine something like a system, a set of rules, something like that.

00:18:13 Speaker_02
Yeah. Right. So you said you didn't mean to undermine me. And I said, that's OK. I appreciate that.

00:18:18 Speaker_01
Yes, so I mean I think the takeaway today Michelle it doesn't really matter whether these are prefixes We're still gonna learn the word we're gonna understand what we're saying I want you guys to learn these as words not as Separate pieces a prefix and the rest of the word, right?

00:18:33 Speaker_01
Right. Oh, I want you to learn underestimate or undermine because these are markers of high-level speakers Okay, exactly, you know knowing the prefix is helpful when you're

00:18:45 Speaker_02
trying to guess the meaning of something. So it can definitely be helpful in certain ways. So just know that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't work. And we can look into this more another day, but something to be aware of.

00:18:57 Speaker_01
Yeah, exactly. Instead of spending time with charts and prefixes and suffixes and full words, instead, go out and connect and use these and think about what are the topics where something is being undermined or someone is being undermined?

00:19:10 Speaker_01
How do you address that? How do you talk through that with someone? That is what's interesting about learning English is the connection. Yeah.

00:19:16 Speaker_02
Yes, absolutely. All right. I love it. Thank you so much to our listener for that question. And guys, remember, listen to that other episode. Don't overdo it with textbook English to hear the over ones. Nice. Very good.

00:19:28 Speaker_01
I'll see you there. Take care, Michelle. All right. Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score.

00:19:46 Speaker_01
And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.

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