Susie Dent

I can do some of the number puzzles.

— Susie Dent

I've been a worrier for as long as I can remember.

— Susie Dent

I'm an Arsenal fan and an even bigger Arsene fan.

— Susie Dent

Britain's fascination with its changing language is renowned.

— Susie Dent

For the Anglo-Saxons, food determined a person's position in society.

— Susie Dent

The best time to catch tribal jargon is when it's not looking.

— Susie Dent

Why use salty when you can have brackish? It carries a sense of part-water, part-salt, too, just like the sea.

— Susie Dent

If a term becomes too popular, its irritant value is ramped up. The impulse is then to replace it with something else.

— Susie Dent

I love both garlic and onions, and this word pithily captures the rich tastes of both.

— Susie Dent

As a nation we love our dialects, and there is a lot of regional variance in the names for different foods -…

— Susie Dent

Quite often people ask me 'Is there a word for... ' and go on to highlight a gap in our language that…

— Susie Dent

Every sport, every profession, every group united by a single passion draws on a lexicon that is uniquely theirs, and theirs for…

— Susie Dent

I'm a big believer in change and embrace the fact that English is probably the fastest-moving language in the world.

— Susie Dent

In many cases, the line between a thriller and a crime novel has become too blurred to be useful.

— Susie Dent

One of the joys of language is its constant evolution, and a lexicographer's job is both to track new words and to…

— Susie Dent

English may be the fastest moving language in the world, but there are plenty of concepts, sensations and everyday occurrences which lack…

— Susie Dent

I've been collecting linguistic oddities for years and years, ever since I was small. I've got loads of notebooks where I've jotted…

— Susie Dent

“Alex had what the Italians called sprezzatura--the kind of studied nonchalance that implies no time has been taken at all to look…

— Susie Dent

I've been obsessed with words since I was a little girl, and I am fortunate that each week as resident word expert…

— Susie Dent

There is an art to eavesdropping, but I think to some extent we are all guilty of picking up those little odds…

— Susie Dent

In the middle of the 20th century, aspirations to sound 'proper' were passionately pursued. Dictionaries as late as the Seventies include many…

— Susie Dent

In all my years in 'Countdown's' Dictionary Corner, the subject most guaranteed to rankle with our viewers is the presence of Americanisms…

— Susie Dent

What I've discovered is that from football fans to undertakers, secret agents to marble-players and politicians, we all are part of at…

— Susie Dent

The word 'eavesdropper' originally referred to people who, under the pretence of taking in some fresh air, would stand under the 'eavesdrip'…

— Susie Dent

Super Tuesday is the day on which most states hold their primaries. Its darker partner is Dirty Tricks Thursday: the Thursday before…

— Susie Dent

I don't intentionally eavesdrop. I'm not looking for salacious gossip, I'm just looking for vocabulary items.

— Susie Dent

Booze' was once a popular term in the slang or 'cant' of the criminal underworld, which may explain its rebellious overtones today.

— Susie Dent

Language is essentially tribal, so jargon can actually be a really good thing because it unites people.

— Susie Dent

The extraordinary thing about new words is that probably only about one per cent of them are new. Most are old words…

— Susie Dent

The character of our language defines us, and dictionaries say as much about us as about the way we speak.

— Susie Dent

I'm not a brazen extrovert, but I'm not as blushing or demure as people might think.

— Susie Dent

From the start, English has happily absorbed words from every tongue it's encountered.

— Susie Dent

Claggy is often seen as a negative word, yet for me it describes perfectly that full-mouthed feel of a treacle tart of…

— Susie Dent

If we want to change the nuance of a particular word we have to change that ourselves.

— Susie Dent

Glogg is a Scandinavian mulled wine, sweetened with honey, almonds, raisins and spices. Its name suits its purpose so beautifully.

— Susie Dent

I like to introduce a few lost gems when I can to fellow word-lovers, and would genuinely love some of them to…

— Susie Dent

No one expects the tone of an election to be mild-mannered, least of all a presidential one.

— Susie Dent

I was fascinated by the shape of words even before I knew what they meant.

— Susie Dent

The notion of 'Queen's English' is usually applied to our pronunciation.

— Susie Dent

Friable isn't often used of food, yet its meaning lends itself perfectly to pastry and crumbly biscuits.

— Susie Dent