Susie Dent


Susie Francesca Dent, is an English lexicographer and etymologist. She has appeared in "Dictionary Corner" on the Channel 4 game show Countdown every year 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.

Early life and education

Dent was born in Woking, Surrey, She 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.

Career

Dent's first job was as a waitress. At the time she 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.
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, having first appeared in 1992; she has made more than 2,500 appearances. While she was on maternity leave over the winter of 2007–08, she was replaced as lexicographer by Alison Heard. Dent also works on the spin-off show 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.
Dent appeared as herself in an episode of the BBC sitcom Not Going Out.
Dent presented a web series for Channel 4 titled Susie Dent's Guide to Swearing where she explored the etymology and history of a number of English swear words. She has also made an appearance on BBC entertainment show Would I Lie to You?. In 2018 she also appeared on five episodes of House of Games, a panel show hosted by Richard Osman.
In 2019, Dent launched the podcast Something Rhymes With Purple, co-hosted with Gyles Brandreth.

Published books

From 2003 to 2007, Dent was the author of a series of annual Language Reports for the Oxford University Press. The first was titled simply The Language Report, and this was followed by Larpers and Shroomers, Fanboys and Overdogs, The Like, Language Report for Real and The Language Report: English on the Move 2000 – 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.
In 2005, the same publisher issued Winning Words and in 2009 What Made the Crocodile Cry? 101 questions about the English language. Dent's book about dialects, How to Talk Like a Local, was published in March 2010.
First publishedTitlePagesPublisher
November 2003The Language Report: The Ultimate Record of What We're Saying and How We're Saying It151Oxford University Press
November 2004Larpers and Shroomers: The Language Report174Oxford University Press
September 2005Winning Words32Oxford University Press
January 2006Fanboys and Overdogs163Oxford University Press
January 2007The Like, Language Report for Real176Oxford University Press
December 2007The Language Report: English on the Move 2000–2007166Oxford University Press
October 2008Words of the Year148Oxford University Press
November 2008How to Talk Like a Local: From Cockney to Geordie256Random House
October 2009What Made the Crocodile Cry? 101 Questions About the English Language159Oxford University Press
August 2012Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 1568John Murray Learning
November 2013Susie Dent's Weird Words176Scholastic Non-Fiction
October 2017Dent's Modern Tribes: The Secret Languages of Britain336John Murray