Susie Dent Livres

There is a word for how you feel, however you feel and Susie Dent, lexicographer extraordinaire and Queen of Countdown's Dictionary Corner, is going to help you find it.

The perfect present for word-lovers: a word for every day of the year: 'WORD PERFECT is a golden vaulted cave of fascinating and funny hidden gems' JO BRAND

There is a word for how you feel, however you feel and Susie Dent, lexicographer extraordinaire and Queen of Countdown's Dictionary Corner, is going to help you find it.

Fanboys and Overdogs is a collection of some of the most intriguing facts and observations on the English language in recent years. In her eminently readable exploration of the changing face of English, Susie Dent takes the reader on a journey through the most exotic and dynamic areas of thelanguage. From histories of words to the word on the street, this completely new volume explores how language is changing, and gives a 'Word a Year' list for 1905 to 2005.The book covers new words, and the language of technology, politics, TV, and the media. Other topics covered include foreign words and phrases, word play, word histories, dialect, spelling, and current controversies of grammar and usage.A brand-new design brings the language to life on the page, and makes the book a pleasure to read. Fanboys and Overdogs is based on the ongoing research at Oxford Dictionaries, home of the Oxford English Dictionary and the largest language research program in the world. Oxford collects and analysesliterally hundreds of millions of words of real language and the findings are presented here, many of them for the first time.Compellingly informative and readable Fanboys and Overdogs has something for everyone interested in the English language.

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.

Why do good things cut the mustard? Who or what was the real Real McCoy? And why do we call false sentiment crocodile tears? Can crocodiles really cry? In What Made the Crocodile Cry? , Susie Dent draws on her popular television segment on the curiosities of English to tackle these and many other fascinating puzzles. Writing with her customary charm and erudition, Dent offers a wonderfully readable and endlessly entertaining exploration of language, answering 101 of the most intriguing questions about the English language, from word origins and spelling to grammar and usage. Dent ranges far and wide in her search for the oddities of language, pondering the ancient origin of the word "tragedy" (which originally meant "goat song" in Greek) as well as the modern meaning of the word "donk" in the Blackout Crew's song title "Put a Donk in It." And throughout, the book brims with fascinating tales. Readers learn, for instance, that the word "bankrupt" comes from the Italian "banca rotta" or " broken bench" and the word "broke" (meaning "out of funds") has the same origin. Dent explains that in the sixteenth century, money lenders conducted their business on benches outdoors and the usual Italian word for "bench" was "banca" (hence today's "bank"). The author also provides an entertaining account of the origin of the term "white elephant" (meaning "a useless, burdensome possession") that dates back to ancient Siam, where rare white elephants were always given to the king. But since by law white elephants couldn't be worked (and earn money) or even be ridden, the king often re-gifted these worthless burdens to courtiers whom he didn't like. Sparkling with insight and linguistic curiosity, this delightful compendium will be irresistible to anyone fascinated with language--the perfect gift for word lovers everywhere.

An extension to the Oxford Reading Tree TreeTops range. This title features: Making Music; Hard Work; Under the Volcano; Winning Words; Wonderful Things; and Save Our Coasts.

Learn how to decode the private languages that are swapped around us every day - amongst cabbies and paramedics, soap stars and comedians, cricketers and barristers - in Susie Dent's unique and witty guide to Britain's modern tribes.

"I enjoyed this so much. As a pessimistic lover of words, this was both comforting and heart-warming. I always think that learning about etymology is a way to appreciate the secret code of the world, and Susie is the perfect guide and companion and lexical cheerleader." - Stig Abel "Susie Dent's way with words always makes me happy. This is my kind of book. There's positivity on every page." - Gyles Brandreth Susie Dent, bestselling author, broadcaster and word expert, is on a mission to find light in the deepest, darkest corners of our language. It takes just a short browse through the dictionary to spot how it is filled with negative words. But Susie has searched far and wide to unearth happy and uplifting words and phrases that, in some cases, are long forgotten, while others have only just been discovered. Paired with beautiful illustrations, this is the perfect book to lift you out of your mubble fubbles (a slightly sad mood), make you grin like a gigglemug (someone who never stops smiling), and have you feeling forblissed (extremely happy) in no time. This joyous collection of 100 positive words and their origins will show readers young and old just how wonderful language can be - and how you can use your words to make the world a happier place.

A literary treasure-trove packed with amazing words, jaw-dropping stories and unforgettable etymologies from Countdown's Queen of Dictionary Corner, Susie Dent