The Secret Life of Words

COUNTDOWN’s star lexicographer Susie Dent comes to the Electric Palace at Bridport on Saturday 1st April at 2pm, with her new show, The Secret Lives of Words

A skilled word expert and etymologist, who is also a delightful presenter and broadcaster, Susie has appeared in Dictionary Corner on Channel 4’s game show Countdown since 1992. She also appears on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, a post-watershed comedy version of the show presented by comedian Jimmy Carr. She has been honorary vice-president of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading since 2016.

The new show is an invitation to take a journey into the curious, unexpected and downright surreal origins of the words we use every day.

Susie will retell the adventures that lie hidden within such words as lasagne (involving a chamber pot) and bugbear (a terrorising monster), and explain such oddities as the silent h in ghost and the mysterious disappearance of kempt, gormful, and ruly (and yes, you really can be gruntled).

She will look to the lexicon of the past to fill some of today’s linguistic gaps—such as the frenzied fit of tidying we all do just as guests are about to descend (that’s a scurryfunge).

Alongside such forgotten stories you will hear Susie’s selection of the funniest moments from her 30 years on Countdown and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, as well as some startling results from eavesdropping on a group of waiters.

Each event will include some of Susie’s favourite words from the towns and regions she visits, and she’ll be asking the audience for theirs. In fact, she’ll be welcoming any questions about word origins, usage irritations, the dreaded impact of Americanisation and the very future of our language, in her very own ‘word surgery’.