Susie Dent

Susie Dent (born 19 November 1964 in Woking, Surrey) is an English lexicographer and etymologist. She is best known for her work in Countdown's "Dictionary Corner" on Channel 4.

Education and early career

Dent was educated at the Marist Convent in Ascot, an independent Roman Catholic day school. She went on to Somerville College at the University of Oxford, then to Princeton University.

Countdown

Dent is well known as the resident lexicographer and adjudicator on Channel 4's long-running game show Countdown. She is the longest-serving member of the show's current on-screen team, having first appeared in 1992; she has made over 2500 appearances. Alison Heard replaced Dent as lexicographer over the winter of 2007–08 while she was on maternity leave. She also works on the spin-off show, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.

Personal Life

Dent is married and has two children. She revealed on Countdown that she is vegetarian.

Published books

From 2003 to 2007, Dent was the author of a series of annual Language Reports for the Oxford University Press (OUP). The first was entitled simply The Language Report, followed by Larpers and Shroomers (2004), Fanboys and Overdogs (2005), The Like, Language Report for Real (2006) and The Language Report: English on the Move 2000 – 2007 (2007). The format of this publication was revised for 2008 as an A–Z collection of new and newly resurrected words. It was published in October 2008 as Words of the Year. In 2005 the same publisher issued Winning Ways (ISBN 0199198748). 2009 OUP published her latest work: What Made the Crocodile Cry? 101 questions about the English language (ISBN 0199574154). Dent's book about dialects, How to Talk Like a Local (ISBN 1905211791), was published in March 2010.

Susie

Susie is a male or female name that can be a diminutive form of Susan, Susanne, Steven, Suzanne, Susannah, Susanna or Susana.

Susie

Film and TV

Fictional characters

See also

Dent

Dent may refer to:

People

Fictional characters

Places

Several mountains in France, such as

Companies

Other

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (also known as simply Cats Does Countdown and Catsdown) is a crossover between the panel game 8 Out of 10 Cats and the game show Countdown. The show follows the format of Countdown, but with hosts and contestants from 8 Out of 10 Cats, and an emphasis on humour.

The first episode aired as part of Channel 4's "mash-up night" on 2 January 2012; the first full series was aired in July 2013 and multiple series have since been commissioned. Episodes feature Jimmy Carr as host; two teams of two contestants feature in most episodes, with Sean Lock and Jon Richardson as permanent team captains (Lee Mack, Sarah Millican and Bill Bailey have deputised when either captain was unavailable to film). Rachel Riley and Susie Dent take up their regular roles from Countdown; Joe Wilkinson appears in many episodes as Rachel's assistant and has also stood in as a team captain.

History

On 2 January 2012, a special episode of Countdown aired as part of a special "mash-up night" celebrating Channel 4's 30th birthday. Jimmy Carr took over as host alongside Rachel Riley. Sean Lock and Jon Richardson competed as contestants and Joe Wilkinson joined Susie Dent in Dictionary Corner. The show consisted of four letters rounds, two numbers rounds and the conundrum, interspersed with 8 Out of 10 Cats-style banter.

Countdown

A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the term "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and even "E-minus" for events that involve spacecraft that are already in space, where the "T" could stand for "Test" or "Time", and the "E" stands for "Encounter", as with a comet or some other space object. Other events for which countdowns are commonly used include the detonation of an explosive, the start of a race, the start of the New Year, or any anxiously anticipated event. An early use of a countdown once signaled the start of a Cambridge University rowing race. The first known association with rockets was in the 1929 German science fiction movie Die Frau im Mond (English: Woman in the Moon) written by Thea von Harbou and directed by Fritz Lang in an attempt to increase the drama of the launch sequence of the story's lunar-bound rocket.

Rocketry

A countdown is a carefully devised set of procedures ending with the ignition of a rocket's engine. Depending on the type of vehicle used, countdowns can start from 72 to 96 hours before launch time.