Lexicologist Susie Dent unravels the secret languages of everyday life
Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie are joined by lexicologist Susie Dent.
Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie: wrestling all afternoon for your delight on the fluffy audio hearth rug. One might call the show a daily 'nepenthe' (ni-pen-thee): a magical potion that helps you forget all your troubles. Or maybe you'd say after listening to Mark and Stuart chat for five minutes that you were 'blutterbunged': a useful old dialect word for being 'overcome by surprise and utterly confounded'.
Who better to tell us more excellent words like this than lexicologist and etymologist, Susie Dent. She's the resident word expert in Dictionary Corner on C4's Countdown and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, and comments regularly on TV and radio on words in the news, and has contributed to Woman's Hour, 15 x 15, Word of Mouth, More or Less, Today, 成人快手 Breakfast, and R4's Wordaholics.
She's spent years interviewing hundreds of professionals, hobbyists and enthusiasts collecting the secret languages surrounding us in everyday life - from the Freemason's handshake to the publican's banter - and she's here to tell us more about it.
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