Susie Dent

'Susie Dent is a one-off. She breathes life and fun into words and language' Pam Ayres 'Susie Dent is a national treasure' Richard Osman Welcome to a year of wonder with Susie Dent, lexicographer, logophile, and longtime queen of Countdown's Dictionary Corner. From the real Jack the Lad to the theatrically literal story behind stealing someone's thunder, from tartle (forgetting someone's name at the very moment you need it) to snaccident (the unintentional eating of an entire packet of biscuits), WORD PERFECT is a brilliant linguistic almanac full of unforgettable stories, fascinating facts, and surprising etymologies tied to every day of the year. You'll never be lost for words again.

Etymological Entertainment for Every Day of the Year

Word Perfect

Did you know that . . . a soldier's biggest social blunder is called jack brew - making yourself a cuppa without making one for anyone else? That twitchers have an expression for a bird that can't be identified - LBJ (the letters stand for Little Brown Job)? Or that builders call plastering the ceiling doing Lionel Richie's dancefloor? Susie Dent does. Ever wondered why football managers all speak the same way, what a cabbie calls the Houses of Parliament, or how ticket inspectors discreetly request back-up? We are surrounded by hundreds of tribes, each speaking their own distinct slanguage of colourful words, jokes and phrases, honed through years of conversations on the battlefield, in A&E, backstage, or at ten-thousand feet in the air. Susie Dent has spent years interviewing hundreds of professionals, hobbyists and enthusiasts, and the result is an idiosyncratic phrasebook like no other. From the Freemason's handshake to the publican's banter, Dent's Modern Tribes takes us on a whirlwind tour of Britain, decoding its secret languages and, in the process, finds out what really makes us all tick.

The Secret Languages of Britain

Dent's Modern Tribes

From Stealing Thunder to Red Herrings

Interesting Stories about Curious Words

Etymological Entertainment For Every Day of the Year

Sparkling with insight and linguistic curiosity, this delightful compendium answers 101 of the most intriguing questions about the English language, from word origins and spelling to grammar and usage. Irresistible to anyone with an interest in the words around them.

101 Questions about the English Language

What Made The Crocodile Cry?

An anonymous letter arrives at the offices of the Clarendon English Dictionary containing a challenge for the team of lexicographers working there. It's clear that's it's not the usual run-of-the-mill, eccentric enquiry. The letter hints at secrets, lies and a year. 2010. For Martha Thornhill, the new senior editor, that year can mean only one thing: the summer her brilliant, beautiful older sister Charlie went missing.
More letters arrive, pointing towards a secret in the heart of the dictionary itself. As Martha and her colleagues start pulling apart the clues, the questions become more insistent and troubling. Charlie's disappearance is one of a series of secret absences going back centuries, and someone wants to keep those secrets buried.
After a decade living abroad, Martha has returned to her father, her family home and the city whose institutions have defined her family, but the ghosts she thought at rest were only waiting for her to return.
The debut murder mystery from the resident genius of Countdown's Dictionary Corner, Susie Dent.

Guilty by Definition

the language report

Fanboys and overdogs

A funny and entertaining way to discover more about the history and meaning of language. SUSIE DENT'S WEIRD WORDS takes children on a rip-roaring tour through some of the most astonishing and sometimes quite revolting origins of English words. As Susie Dent knows, even the most ordinary-sounding word can have the most extraordinary story behind it.

Susie Dent's Weird Words

Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

This edition of 'Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable' has been fully revised and updated and contains entries on a vast range of colloquial words and expressions as well as mythology and folk customs.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable

Join Susie Dent, lexicographer extraordinaire and Queen of Countdown's Dictionary Corner, on a curious and exceedingly interesting adventure through all the very best RED HERRINGS, COCK AND BULL STORIES and NINE-DAY WONDERS in the English language. Who was SWEET FANNY ADAMS? What's the dramatic true story behind STEALING THUNDER? Why is it CHANCING YOUR ARM when you take a risk? What do bears have to do with LICKING INTO SHAPE? Or robbers with PULLING SOMEONE'S LEG? Why are CIRCLES VICIOUS? And, what's so bad about a WHITE ELEPHANT? 'Nobody on earth knows more about the English language than Susie Dent' Gyles Brandreth

Infinitely browsable and completely up to date, The Language Report is a collection of topical and fascinating facts and observations on today's spoken and written English. Backed by the largest language research program in the world at Oxford University Press, this new book presents an up-to-the-minute snapshot of English language today: tracking the latest new words to have entered its usage; investigating old words revived by current events in, for example, the worlds of politics and pop; and examining the most recent trends of language development. This intriguing survey covers language issues reported by the media in recent times, including memorable quotations and sayings of the year; nicknames in the news; new venues for language, such as Internet chatrooms; and controversial developments in usage and grammar. It also analyzes English around the world, uncovering the latest words and phrases to enter our vocabulary; and explores what new words were hundreds of years ago, and how they've developed or disappeared. An ideal reference for all word lovers, this new book offers a fascinating tour of the English language today.

The Language Report

Would you be bewildered if someone described you as "radgy"? Do you know how to recognize a "tittamatorter"? And would you understand if someone called you a "culchie"? "How to Talk Like a Local" gathers together hundreds of words from all over the country and digs down to uncover their origins. From "dardledumdue," which means daydreamer in East Anglia, through "forkin robbins," the Yorkshire term for earwigs, to "clemt," a Lancashire word that means hungry, it investigates an astonishingly rich variety of regional expressions, and provides a fascinating insight into the history of the English language. If you're intrigued by colorful words and phrases, if you're interested in how English is really spoken, or if you simply want to find out a bit more about the development of our language, "How to Talk Like a Local" is irresistible and enlightening reading."

A National Phrasebook from the Author of Word Perfect

How to Talk Like a Local

Susie Dent is here to take children on a rip-roaring tour through some of the most astonishing, amusing and sometimes quite revolting backgrounds of English words. Did you know, for instance, that 'fizzle' originally meant to break wind silently? Over time, it came to describe a weak, spluttering, hissing sound. And you might think that 'ain't' isn't a word you should use, but it is thought the word was once used by kings and queens. As Susie Dent knows, even the most ordinary-sounding word can have the most extraordinary story behind it.

Much loved for its wit and wisdom since 1870, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable takes you on a captivating adventure through its trademark blend of language, culture, myth, and legend.

What's the difference between a retrosexual and a metrosexual? Have you heard the scientific evidence for Momnesia (a mother's forgetfulness after giving birth)? Which famous author coined the term embuggerance earlier this year? Are you nomophobic? Following the dramatic success of The Language Report, Susie Dent returns with Words of the Year - a fascinating A-Z collection of new and newly resurrected words that have been selected for their topicality and resonance in 2008. Highlighting why certain words have come into use through current preoccupations or events, Dent charts the very latest linguistic changes and the interesting stories behind them. Contains feature entries for words that are linked by context to a newly prominent word, for example, linked to sub-prime in a financial context are bullish, bear, and bankrupt. Dent bases her discoveries on the most authoritative, thorough, and up to date evidence available: the unparalleled resources of the Oxford EnglishDictionary reading programme and the Oxford English Corpus, the world's largest language databank. A truly witty and insightful snapshot of current language usage, Words of the Year highlights the words of our time and delves into captivating etymologies along the way. An essential read for all language enthusiasts.

Words of the Year

The Blackout Crew have a song with the title 'Put a donk on it' - but what is a 'donk'? Which ending came first: '-ise' or '-ize'? Where does the idea of a 'white elephant' come from? Who decides on the collective noun for something? And what is it that made the crocodile cry? Sparkling with insight and linguistic curiosity, this delightful compendium answers 101 of the most intriguing questions about the English language, from word origins and spelling to grammar and usage. Irresistible to anyone with an interest in the words around them. Supported by Oxford's celebrated dictionary research programme, Susie Dent tackles these and many other fascinating questions in this wonderfully accessible and endlessly entertaining exploration of the English language.

101 questions about the English language

'This is, in fact, not what you were looking for; but it's much more interesting.' Terry Pratchett Much loved for its wit and wisdom since 1870, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable takes you on a captivating adventure through its trademark blend of language, culture, myth and legend. Nowhere else could the histories of the guillotine and Guinness stout sit so comfortably alongside the KGB and the Keystone Kops. Brewer's is a catalogue of curiosities and absurdities that, over almost 150 years in print, has acquired near-mythical status. Edited by Susie Dent, this new edition includes a brand new Collection of Curious Words and many new and updated entries. Its pages brim with esoteric and entertaining oddities - everything from curious customs to the world of newspapers and political alliances of yesteryear - all seen through the distinctive Brewer lens. This twentieth edition of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable encapsulates all the charm and wit that characterise its predecessors and maintains the standards of scholarship and eclecticism that have long been its hallmark. Whether you're a committed Brewerphile or a newcomer to its pages of fascinating entries, this edition will draw you in and keep you glued to its rich mix of eccentric nuggets. As Susie Dent explains in the foreword, Brewer's "is unlike any other reference book that exists, anywhere."

Susie Dent

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