QUEEN of Countdown’s Dictionary Corner Susie Dent will be taking an Artrix audience on a journey into the curious, unexpected and downright surreal origins of the words we use every day.
The Secret Lives of Words will take place with the best-selling author and lexicographer at 7.30pm on Tuesday, July 9.
Susie will retell the adventures that lie hidden within such words as lasagne (involving a chamber pot) and bugbear (a terrorising monster), and explain such oddities as the silent ‘h’ in ghost and the mysterious disappearance of kempt, gormful, and ruly (and yes, you really can be gruntled).
She will look to the lexicon of the past to fill some of today’s linguistic gaps.
Alongside such forgotten stories, Susie will also be bringing a selection of the funniest moments from her 25 years on Countdown and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, as well as some startling results from eavesdropping on a group of waiters.
The evening will include some of Susie’s favourite words from Bromsgrove and Worcestershire and she’ll be asking the audience for theirs.
She will also be welcoming any questions about word origins, usage irritations, the dreaded impact of Americanization, and the very future of our language in her very own ‘word surgery’.
The show has been described by Jonathan Ross as ‘Funny, fact-filled and delightful’, ‘Wonderfully clever and funny . . . a national treasury from a national treasure’ by Richard Osman and by Pam Ayres as ‘a one-off. She breathes life and fun into words’.
Tickets are £20 each.
To book tickets or for further information visit artrix.co.uk or call 01527 577330.
