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Susie Dent

@susiedent.com

210K followers 240 following 300 posts

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Feb 27

Delighted to say I’ll be back on the road later this year with a brand-new show called Word Perfect. There are lots of dates - hope you can join me.

A poster for my forthcoming tour Word Perfect, which begins in August. I hope you’ll join me!

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · 4d

Word of the Day is ‘tandsmør’, from Danish. It describes bread that is buttered so thickly you can see tooth marks in it after every bite. Its literal translation? ‘Tooth butter’.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · 16d

To ‘ultra-crepidate’ (19th century) is to lecture others on subjects you know very little about.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · 18d

Well that is lovely. Thank you Greg.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · 18d

Like many, I grew up with Woman’s Hour, so it was a special delight to chat with Anita Rani on Friday about Words for Life. It also made the weekend round-up if you fancy a listen here.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Woman's Hour - Weekend Woman’s Hour: Baroness Hale, Race Across the World, Cryptic pregnancy, Patricia Lockwood, Sudanese women, Susie Dent - BBC Sounds

The first female president of the Supreme Court.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · 20d

Today I offer a reminder of the word ‘forswunk’ (13th century): exhausted from too much work. To be ‘foreswunk’ (my own version) is to be exhausted before you even begin.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · 26d

Word of the Day is ‘snerdle’ (19th century): to stay warm and still beneath the covers for as long as humanly possible.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · 28d

Delighted to say that my new book of words is out today, in which I explain how ‘sneeze’ was born from a mistake, that ‘window’ is a Viking leftover meaning ‘eye of the wind’, and that the Finns really do have a word for drinking alone in your underwear.

linktr.ee/WordsforLife

A picture of my new book Words for Life. Today is publication day!

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Sep 5

Thanks to the wonderful team at the Hachette warehouse for making this morning’s mammoth book-signing a lot of fun.

Words for Life is out next week. I hope you like it.

linktr.ee/WordsforLife

A picture of me signing a lot of copies of my book Words for Life at the warehouse!

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Sep 4

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Sep 4

Word of the day is ‘tamalou’: a French name for an older person who no longer greets their friends with ‘how was your holiday?, but with ‘t’as mal où ?’, ‘where does it hurt?’. There follows an enthusiastic account of aches and pains and doctor’s appointments.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Sep 2

An ‘ultracrepidarian’ (19th century) is one who loves to give their opinion, at length, on matters they know nothing about.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Aug 29

Happening now! Do join me if you can.

twowords2.page.link/play

A reminder of the Two Words tournament happening now!

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Aug 27

I’m looking forward to another round of Two Words challenges! I’ll be taking on as many players as I can, so do join me, whether you’re an old hand or new to the game.

Details for joining to follow on the day.

twowords2.page.link/play

An announcement of another Play Susie tournament on Friday.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Aug 21

Word of the Day is ‘theic’ (19th century), defined as ‘one given to immoderate tea-drinking; a tea drunkard’.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Aug 14

Word of the Day is ‘copemate’ (16th century): the friend in life who gets you through.

It’s one of the 365 entries in Words for Life, an almanac of my favourite words and etymologies to give (I hope) each day a boost.

A picture of my new book Words for Life.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Aug 1

Hosting the British Transplant Games at a sunny Blenheim Palace was such a privilege. Organ donation is needed now more than ever, and the results of such generosity were on display everywhere yesterday. To the audience of 2,000 or more, thank you. And to those who were remembered, thank you too.

Such a wonderful audience of athletes and families

The Transplant Flame which was lit at the opening ceremony.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Jul 26

Ah no though I can see why you’d assume that. ‘Respite’ is from a Latin word meaning ‘refuge’, whereas ‘respair’ is from the same family as ‘despair’, both founded on the Latin for ‘hope’, or the absence of it.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Jul 26

Sometimes the historical dictionary offers solace through the existence of an obsolete word that is sorely needed now. One of them is ‘respair’, recorded just once, in the 15th century. It means fresh hope, and a recovery from despair.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Jul 25

A brand-new series of 8 out of 10 Cats does Countdown starts tonight, starring Bob Mortimer (which is probably all you need to know). Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

9pm on C4.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Jul 20

Etymology of the day: spiders were once known as ‘attercops’, or ‘poison-heads’, because it was believed most spiders were venomous. The ‘cop’ element became the ‘cob’ in ‘cobweb’.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Jul 12

Word of the day is ‘swullocking’, from 19th-century East Anglian dialect: sultry, sweltering, and sudiferous (sweat-inducing).

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Jul 10

It’s been a fun morning talking to some of our very best local radio stations about my new show. It’s getting close now. Would love it if you joined me!
nothird.co.uk

All the dates for my new theatre show called Woed Perfect. Would love to see you there!

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Jul 8

Chuffed to be part of this sale. And a big thank you to everyone who has bought or borrowed my novel already.

A photo of my novel Guilty By Definition which is part of the Amazon Prime Day sale.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Jul 1

Word of the day is ‘forwallowed’ (15th century): extremely weary from tossing and turning all night.

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Susie Dent @susiedent.com · Jun 27

The final scores are in! I took on as many games as my brain and fingers could manage; apologies to those whose challenges I couldn’t accept. But we will go again later in the summer.

Congratulations to all those who smashed me!

twowords2.page.link/play

The winners of the Play Susie event on the Two Words app’

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