Word Perfect: Etymological Entertainment For Every Day of the Year

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Dent presented Channel 4 web series Susie Dent's Guide to Swearing, which explored the etymology and history of select English swear words. [11] She has also made an appearance on BBC entertainment show Would I Lie to You?. [12] In 2018, she also appeared on five episodes of the panel show House of Games. Susie Dent (born 1964) [1] [2] is an English lexicographer, etymologist, and media personality. She has appeared in "Dictionary Corner" on the Channel 4 game show Countdown since 1992. She also appears on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, a post- watershed comedy version of the show.

I enjoyed learning about the words. Whether they will stay in my head and I remember to use them as and when the time arises is a different matter. The book is very British and there will be words that those around the world will never have heard of. There are also some that British people will never have heard of because they are regional words never heard outside of their city of origin or mean something different in different parts of the country. From 2003 to 2007, Dent was the author of a series of yearly Language Reports for the Oxford University Press (OUP). The first was simply titled The Language Report, and this was followed by Larpers and Shroomers (2004); Fanboys and Overdogs (2005); The Like, Language Report for Real (2006); and The Language Report: English on the Move 2000 – 2007 (2007). The format of this publication was revised for 2008 as an A–Z collection of new and newly resurrected words. It was published in October 2008 as Words of the Year ( ISBN 9780199551996). Sneddon, Dan (4 July 2022). "Countdown's Susie Dent reflects on 30th anniversary". Yahoo.com . Retrieved 15 March 2023. It’s true too that other languages dish out positivity a little better than us. They have a splash of what the Italians call sprezzatura, a careless, thrown together nonchalance or indifference to life’s curveballs. As for joy, it would be hard to beat gigil from the Philippines. In a single word it conveys the “irresistible desire to squeeze something cute”.Shahid, Sharnaz (14 October 2020). "Countdown's Susie Dent gives rare insight into home life with daughters". Hello! . Retrieved 6 February 2021.

Dent is well known as the resident lexicographer and adjudicator for the letters rounds on Channel 4's long-running game show Countdown. On each episode, she also provides a brief commentary on the origin of a particular word or phrase. Dent is the longest-serving member of the show's current on-screen team, first appearing in 1992; she has made more than 5,000 appearances. [7] Dent also works on the spin-off show 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. [8]Dent was born in Woking, Surrey. [1] She was educated at the Marist Convent in Ascot, an independent Roman Catholic day school, [3] with a term at Eton College to study for Oxbridge entrance exams. [4] She went on to Somerville College, Oxford for her BA in modern languages, then to Princeton University for her master's degree in German. [5] Career [ edit ] Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them”: words of positivity from the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. But how many of us really dwell on the upside of life, as opposed to its mad, bad, seamy side? It’s unsurprising that we have lost some of our joie de vivre in the past few years – finding sparkle amid the grey has become distinctly difficult. But a riffle through a historical dictionary suggests that it’s always been this way, and at heart we’ve long been a pessimistic lot. Linguistically, as in life, our glass is usually half-empty. CIOL Representation | CIOL (Chartered Institute of Linguists)". ciol.org.uk . Retrieved 13 June 2023. More Live Dates For Gyles Brandreth And Susie Dent Plus West End Residency". Beyond The Joke. 6 July 2022 . Retrieved 10 March 2023.

When Dent began work on Countdown in 1992, she had just started working for the Oxford University Press on producing English dictionaries, having previously worked on bilingual dictionaries. [6] In Dictionary Corner with Countdown's Susie Dent, the 'dominatrix' of words". Radio Times. 8 November 2016. It’s tempting to call Susie Dent a walking dictionary, but she’s more often seen sitting at a desk, mostly on the quiz show Countdown, where she has been the resident lexicographer in Dictionary Corner since 1992. Dent was educated at the Marist Convent in Ascot, an independent Roman Catholic day school. She went on to Somerville College, Oxford for her B.A. in modern languages, then to Princeton University for her master's degree in German.

In 2019, Dent launched the gold award podcast, Something Rhymes With Purple, co-hosted with her friend Gyles Brandreth [13] and have followed up with their live theatre stage residencies using the same formula as their podcast. [14] The publication of her latest book caused something of a stir, as the initial print run contained numerous errors; an unfortunate irony, given its title: Word Perfect. The author had sent the final proofs for correction, but somehow the editing process failed, with Covid measures blamed for a glitch in the system. New copies were hastily printed, minus typos, though perhaps those in the original print run might end up as collectors’ items. I love finding new words and some are intriguing such as ‘Choreomania’ which is the compulsion to dance. What’s more, is that every word not only has a definition but it also contains information about its origins and a factual story about something related to it. In this case, in 1374 in the town of Aachen, Germany it is recorded that the citizens congregated en masse and began to dance uncontrollably.