Susie Dent

Susie Dent is best-known for her long-standing role in Channel 4’s Countdown as their resident lexicographer and etymologist and also appears on the show's comedy sister 8 out of 10 Cats does Countdown. Intelligent and personable, Susie uses her presenting skills and passion for education to help companies to understand the need for clear communication and influence.

Susie comments regularly on TV and radio on words in the news. She has contributed to discussions on Radio 4's Woman's Hour, 15 x 15, Word of Mouth, Saturday Live,  More or Less, Today, and on Radio 5 Live's Breakfast and Drive programmes, and has been a regular panellist on R4's Wordaholics. She has made guest appearances on many TV programmes including BBC Breakfast, Newsnight, This Morning, Test the Nation, Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, Not Going Out (in a hot tub), and The One Show.

Susie also answers notes and queries about words and phrases in weekly columns in the Radio Times and The Week Junior. She has written for the Independent on Sunday, the Telegraph, and the Daily Mail, and is the author of several books, including Susie Dent's Word of the Year, What Made the Crocodile Cry?, and How to Talk Like a Local.

Believing that jargon is good, she uses her skill for linguistics to help audiences appreciate the value of precise language. She also helps businesses gain a new appreciation for the effectiveness of personal and business communication.

Interweaving educational stories with quick-witted jokes, Susie can put any crowd at ease and help to improve their communication through the skills she has garnered in her work.

Susie loves to share with her audiences the curious, unexpected, and unforgettable stories of words we use every day. She retells the adventures of such phrases as 'stealing someone's thunder', or 'licking something into shape', and explains the gnarliness of English spelling through such oddities as the silent 'h' in ghost, put there by a single, anonymous hand several centuries ago, and yet it remains with us still. She can reveal the ancient English 'law' that means we will never play pong ping or wear flop flips, and ponders the disappearance of such words as kempt, gormful, and ruly (and yes, you really can be gruntled).

She also loves to 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). 

Susie always welcomes questions about word origins, usage irritations, the dreaded impact of Americanization, and the very future of our language. If required, she can focus on etymology, spelling, or grammar – each providing a lens into why English has developed the way it has, and which way it may progress in the future.

She is a spokesperson for Oxford University Press, and has been a judge on the Costa Book Awards and on the Academy Excellence Awards.

Knowing the challenges that businesses face on a daily basis, Susie has the skills to help them improve and can provide takeaway lessons in her keynote speeches applicable to any industry.

Susie regularly delivers key-note speeches to both small companies and major corporations on language and communication. Her mission is to help companies understand that words matter and finding a way to meaningfully communicate will ensure lasting results.