84 Quotes by Susie Dent

Language is a democratic enterprise.

The truth is that only 1% of all new words are totally new, and of those an even smaller percentage are conjured up out of thin air. The vast majority of coinages are the product of some kind of repurposing, and the result has always been a mix of tradition and innovation.

And there is always the argument-closing ‘Villain, I have done thy mother’, a retort from Titus Andronicus of such eviscerating wit that we still honour it today with jokes beginning with ‘your mum’.

Probably my favourite winter-word of all. Apricity is the warmth of the sun on a chilly day.

I love both garlic and onions, and this word pithily captures the rich tastes of both.

Slang has different functions: many of the words we use are playful and a lot are tribal - we speak the same way as the groups we are part of. A great deal are also euphemistic, so it's no surprise that a third of us are perplexed by their meanings and origins.

Why use salty when you can have brackish? It carries a sense of part-water, part-salt, too, just like the sea.

I'm an Arsenal fan and an even bigger Arsene fan.

Quite often people ask me 'Is there a word for... ' and go on to highlight a gap in our language that we need to fill.